Introducing SIM cards for kids with parental controls as a new innovation.
In a bid to enhance online safety for children, a proposal has been put forward by Tatiana Butskaya, Deputy Chair of the State Duma's Committee on Family Protection, to introduce children's SIM cards with parent-adjustable traffic filtering tools in Russia.
The idea is to create special SIM cards for children under 14 years old, which would come with pre-set secure restrictions to protect them from harmful online content and fraudulent contacts. These restrictions may include blocking registration on age-restricted social networks and possibly limiting access to anonymous messengers.
The proposal aims to reduce opportunities for fraudsters to engage with children via mobile communications. Parents would have the control to configure and customise these filtering tools, providing them with the power to manage their children's online activities more effectively.
Svyatoslav Pegov, Director of the Center for Sports Programming, Algorithmic Robotics, Cybersecurity, and Cybersports at the Ufa University of Science and Technology, has emphasised the importance of information protection and teaching children how to work with information as part of their education. He also highlighted the fact that even adults are still learning about information hygiene, content filtering, and combating internet fraud.
Pegov also stressed the importance of increasing parental computer literacy and responsibility, as these SIM cards would be just one aspect of ensuring a safe online environment for children.
Maksut Shadaev, the head of the Ministry of Finance, has stated that obtaining such SIM cards will be voluntary.
As of early August 2025, no official release date or detailed rollout schedule has been published. The project is still at the proposal stage with inquiries underway at the Ministry of Finance for more information. The Ministry of Digital Transformation has also expressed interest in the project.
As the digital world continues to evolve, initiatives like this one highlight the ongoing efforts to ensure children's safety online. The exact timeline and specifics of the project's implementation remain to be seen, but the proposal underscores a commitment to safeguarding children's digital experiences.
[1] Source: Various news articles and press releases [2] Source: Interviews with Svyatoslav Pegov and Maksut Shadaev
- The society, recognizing the importance of children's health-and-wellness in the digital age, is considering a proposal to introduce child-specific SIM cards with parent-controlled traffic filtering tools in Russia, as a means of protecting children from harmful online content and fraudulent contacts.
- As education-and-self-development increasingly encompasses digital literacy, Svyatoslav Pegov, a cybersecurity expert, underlines the necessity of instilling information protection practices in children, acknowledging that even adults continue to learn about internet safety and fraud prevention.
- Additionally, recognizing that children's overall family-health is affected by their online activities, Pegov stresses the importance of increasing parental computer literacy and responsibility, enabling parents to more effectively manage their children's online activities and protect them from potential dangers in the realm of technology.