| APrIGF 2026 Session Proposal Submission Form | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 - Lead Organizer | |||||||||||
| Contact Person | |||||||||||
| Ms. Priya Lamichhane | |||||||||||
| Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) * | |||||||||||
| Individual | |||||||||||
| Designation | |||||||||||
| Legal Researcher | |||||||||||
| Gender | |||||||||||
| Female | |||||||||||
| Economy of Residence | |||||||||||
| Nepal | |||||||||||
| Stakeholder Group | |||||||||||
| Civil Society | |||||||||||
| List Your Organizing Partners (if any) | |||||||||||
| Priya Lamichhane, Cofounder, Open Knowledge Foundation Nepal priya.lamichhane@onkp.org +9779861292065 |
|||||||||||
| Part 2 - Session Proposal | |||||||||||
| Session Title | |||||||||||
| The Algorithmic Breach: Brevity Bias, Cognitive Sovereignty, and the Case for a Duty of Care in South and Southeast Asia | |||||||||||
| Thematic Track of Your Session | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Session Format | |||||||||||
| Fireside Chat (30 minutes) | |||||||||||
| Where do you plan to organize your session? | |||||||||||
| Hybrid (with onsite moderator and speakers both online and offline, with online moderator for questions and comments from remote participants) | |||||||||||
| Specific Issues for Discussion | |||||||||||
| This session represents an original empirical research on the existing protocols on child safety harm across South and Southeast Asia based on the structural algorithmic preference of platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts for ultra-short content that maximizes engagement by bypassing the prefrontal cortex and triggering dopaminergic responses in developing minds. Using Python-based metadata analysis of 180+ content units across five Asian regional clusters, the research documents the mean video duration of 19.8 seconds for content trending in Nepal, usually below the 60-second neurobiological threshold for executive attention and depicts a 92% cross-border content homogenization rate erasing cultural and pedagogical specificity and 4.3% Cultural Specificity Score for viral content in Nepal that has projected 42% decline in sustained attention capacity for Generation Alpha by 2040. The session addresses three interlocking issues: 1. The Cognitive Harm: Algorithmic pacing is a structural design defect with measurable neurobiological consequences for children and not a parenting failure or media trend. 2. The Legislative Blind Spot: A statutory audit of Nepal's Act Relating to Children (2074) and India's DPDP Act (2023) reveals a critical Pacing Gap for both frameworks regulate content but not delivery mechanism, leaving the most damaging form of platform harm legally invisible. 3. The Regional Response: The session introduces the Cognitive Duty of Care as a novel legal framework and the Asian Digital Safety Accord as a proposed multistate mechanism for harmonized algorithmic transparency and cognitive safety standards across Asia Pacific. |
|||||||||||
| Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF | |||||||||||
| This session contributes directly to APrIGF's mandate on human rights, child safety and platform accountability in the Asia Pacific region with evidence produced in Nepal, for the region, by a local legal researcher. Internet governance discussions on child safety have predominantly focused on content moderation on what children see online. This session shifts the frame to delivery architecture towards how algorithmic pacing shapes the developing mind regardless of what content it carries. This is an under-examined governance gap with direct implications for every APrIGF member economy where platforms like TikTok and YouTube operate without cognitive safety obligations. The research is Pan-Asian in scope covering Nepal, India, Thailand, and broader Asian regional clusters that makes its findings directly transferable to the diversity of contexts represented at APrIGF. The Gen Z Protest in September 2025 Kathmandu case study, where the Brevity Bias algorithm served high-stress protest footage to primary school children through hashtag bypass, illustrates the issue as a present governance failure and a future risk. For the outcome, the session would introduces a novel legal framework on Cognitive Duty of Care that participants can take back to national policy contexts. Additionally, it maps the specific statutory gaps in existing South Asian child protection law, giving civil society and policymakers a concrete target for reform. Lastly, it proposes the Asian Digital Safety Accord as a regional cooperative mechanism as Asia Pacific-led governance solution that APrIGF exists to develop and advance. |
|||||||||||
| Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right) | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible) - (Required) | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session. | |||||||||||
| Priya Lamichhane is the sole author of the research being showcased. As a legal practitioner based in Kathmandu with expertise in cyber law, child rights and computational social science, she brings direct empirical and legal authority to the findings. Her original Python-based metadata analysis of 180+ content units across five Asian regions and statutory audit of Nepal's Act Relating to Children (2074) form the evidentiary basis of the session. James Shrestha (Moderator) is the Chief Operating Officer of Open Knowledge Nepal, with a background in electronics and communication engineering and over three years of experience delivering data-driven solutions for the public good. His expertise in open data, digital rights, civic technology, and project management makes him well-placed to facilitate the session bridging the technical dimensions of algorithmic pacing with the policy and civil society audience at APrIGF. |
|||||||||||
| Has AI been used to develop this proposal? | |||||||||||
| Yes | |||||||||||
| How: | |||||||||||
| All research findings, empirical data, legal arguments and policy recommendations presented in the proposal are original work of the presenter which has been a published individual research that can be assessed via ResearchGate portal. AI was used for agenda formatting and clarifying precise relevancies herein. | |||||||||||
| Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2026. | |||||||||||
| No | |||||||||||
| Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2026? | |||||||||||
| No | |||||||||||
| Upon evaluation by the Program Committee, your session proposal may only be selected under the condition that you will accept the suggestion of merging with another proposal with similar topics. Please state your preference below: | |||||||||||
| Yes, I am willing to work with another session proposer on a suggested merger. | |||||||||||
| APrIGF offers live transcripts in English for all sessions. Do you need any disability related requirements for your session? APrIGF makes every effort to be a fully inclusive and accessible event, and will do the best to fulfill your needs. | |||||||||||
| Although we will be facilitating the session in English, I believe we will need the disability related requirements for the session as we are targeting a larger mass including the participants for the conference, that focusses on equity and diversity throughout the participation. | |||||||||||
| Number of Attendees (Please fill in numbers) | |||||||||||
| Gender Balance in Moderators/Speakers (Please fill in numbers) | |||||||||||
| Consent | |||||||||||
 I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2026. |
|||||||||||