Google launches “Digital Pasban” to help families navigate online safety

Google on Thursday unveiled “Digital Pasban,” a national initiative aimed at bringing practical online safety tools into Pakistani homes, as more families go online for learning, entertainment and everyday tasks.

The initiative was announced at the “Safe Raho with Google” event in Islamabad and is designed to reach 200,000 households through localised Urdu toolkits, instructional videos and hands-on training. It brings together the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Tech Valley, Beaconhouse School System and HUM Network, with support from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, and the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination.

Digital Pasban is structured around four tools. Family Link, a free parental control app, lets parents manage screen time, app approvals, content filters and device location. YouTube offers age-appropriate content settings, including a new feature allowing parents to limit or fully switch off children’s access to Shorts. Be Internet Awesome, aimed at children between 7 and 12, teaches digital citizenship through five principles reinforced by the online game Interland. And Gemini, the company’s AI assistant, is being introduced to families as a tool rather than a companion, with restrictions on harmful role-play and inappropriate content for minors, along with a “Guided Learning” mode that walks students through problems step-by-step instead of simply giving them answers.

The programme will be rolled out through broadcast media, SMS alerts, social campaigns and school town halls, alongside parent and guardian safety clinics where families can work through real-world safety scenarios together. Google.org is putting $500,000 toward scaling digital citizenship and AI safety programmes across the country in partnership with local organisations.

PTA Chairman Major General (Retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman said the initiative reflected a shared commitment with Google “to building a safer digital environment for Pakistan’s children and families,” crediting its practical tools and school-based outreach with helping parents guide their children toward safer digital habits.

Google’s Cluster Director for Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Frontier Markets, Farhan Qureshi, said the company’s approach was about protecting children within the digital space rather than keeping them away from it. “Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it requires strong cross-sector partnerships to ensure every family in Pakistan can explore the internet with confidence,” he said.

Tech Valley CEO Umar Farooq said parents across the country had consistently told the company that the digital world was moving faster than their ability to guide their children through it. “That gap is where anxiety grows,” he said, adding that Digital Pasban was built to turn that concern into confidence through safety clinics and practical guidance families could put to use immediately. He described the 200,000-household target as “where we begin, not where we finish.”

The initiative extends Google’s existing Digital Safar programme, under which the company says it has trained over 300,000 students and 5,000 educators in digital citizenship, as well as its partnership with the Punjab government migrating the province’s education ministry to Google for Education, bringing AI-powered learning tools to 1.5 million students.