Conducted with Ipsos, the study highlights hyper-connectivity among youth and proves that weak parental oversight triples digital exposure risks.
SÃO PAULO, February 13, 2026 – Following Safer Internet Day on February 10, the global mandate for responsible technology and child safety online has taken center stage. A groundbreaking study by Ipsos, a global leader in market research, in partnership with identity verification network Unico, exposes a landscape of youth hyper-connectivity and reveals critical vulnerabilities regarding early exposure, parental oversight, and online platform safety.
The quantitative study surveyed 1,200 children and adolescents aged 10 to 17, revealing that internet access is virtually continuous: 85% of respondents access the network multiple times a day, and 96% own at least one social media account. While this hyper-connectivity accelerates learning and socialization, it exposes youth to systemic risks in the absence of robust, friction-free verification mechanisms.
According to the data, 57% of all respondents were exposed to inappropriate or harmful digital content over the past year. Within this demographic, a glaring gender disparity emerges: 72% of those exposed are teenage girls aged 16 and 17.
Furthermore, 18% of youth reported experiencing offensive treatment, cyberbullying, or direct online threats. This risk disproportionately impacts older teens (ages 16–17), who account for 24% of these cases.
Nearly one in five respondents has faced a hazardous or distressing situation online. The data establishes a clear escalation vector: exposure risk jumps from 17% among younger children (ages 10–13) to 28% among older teens (ages 16–17). Crucially, this risk is inversely proportional to parental oversight, skyrocketing from 17% for youth who perceive high parental awareness to 31% for those whose parents are completely unaware of their digital footprints.
The study aimed to benchmark adolescent behavior online to map out platform risks and data vulnerabilities, including identity data leaks, biometric misuse, illicit online gambling, access to explicit adult content, cyberbullying, and grooming.
The release of these metrics comes amid tightening international regulatory frameworks. In Brazil, compliance enforcement accelerates with the launch of the "ECA Digital" mandate on March 17, 2026. The new law binds digital platforms, e-commerce applications, and entertainment providers to strict statutory duties to shield minors from age-inappropriate material, explicitly requiring the integration of reliable, friction-free age assurance solutions. Similar regulatory pressures are unfolding across the European Union and Oceania, where tech platforms face the dual challenge of balancing user experience, system security, and data privacy.
"The data proves that the safer internet conversation is no longer theoretical; we are managing a hyper-connected generation exposed to daily, real-world vulnerabilities," said Luis Felipe Monteiro, Global VP of Institutional Relations at Unico. "The breakthrough is that enterprise-grade technology already exists to protect minors without creating secondary data privacy liabilities."
Available across more than 20 countries, Unico has pioneered a zero-knowledge age verification technology that confirms adult status with absolute certainty via a simple, instantaneous selfie. Engineered from the ground up on Privacy by Design principles, the solution bypasses the need to collect or share sensitive government registries (such as social security or tax IDs). It guarantees total data minimization: the requesting platform receives only a binary, encrypted response verifying whether the user is of legal age.
"Safer Internet Day is a call to action to deploy concrete, enterprise-ready infrastructure. Safeguarding youth requires verification mechanisms that are highly effective, proportionate, and strictly aligned with fundamental privacy rights," concluded Monteiro.
A quantitative study conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Unico Brazil. The research featured 1,200 online interviews via the Ipsos Online Panel, with a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points.
Unico is the leading identity verification network in Latin America, and a global provider of trust infrastructure. By utilizing proprietary technology biometrics and machine learning, Unico eliminates fraud and secures digital transactions for a safer, more efficient world. For more information, visit www.unico.io.
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