UAE Child Digital Safety Law Takes Effect, Setting a One-Year Compliance Runway

The UAE’s Federal Decree-Law No. (26) of 2025 on Child Digital Safety has entered into force as of 1 January 2026, introducing a new compliance framework that will affect organisations providing digital services used by children, as well as institutions that deploy such platforms.

The law formalises governance expectations for protecting children in the digital environment and creates a clearer basis for enforcement. For many organisations, the practical impact will be felt in policy, platform selection, identity and access controls, content and safety features, incident handling, and vendor oversight, especially where services are used in education and youth-related contexts.

The legislation also introduces a defined implementation timeline, giving covered entities a runway to align controls, documentation and operational processes before full enforcement. For CISOs and compliance leaders, the law is a prompt to review data handling, safety-by-design measures, third-party contracts and reporting readiness in environments involving minors.

Source: UAE Legislation (Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2025).