PETALING JAYA: Children should not be allowed to surf the internet alone as predators are always lurking to prey on them.
While there is increasing awareness among parents on the need to limit their children’s access to gadgets, this may not be enough to protect children from paedophiles.
These individuals would engage minors by playing video games or browsing the same content that children today turn to.
“It’s important to understand the platforms your children are using. Even if it’s an innocent-looking online game designed for kids, take the time to explore it and learn about its features – like whether it includes a chat room.
“You need to know if strangers can contact your children through the apps or games they use for fun,” Communications and Multimedia Content Forum CEO Mediha Mahmood told theSun in an interview on Monday.
Mediha, a lawyer by training, has some 20 years of experience in regulating the content that Malaysians view.
Despite the popularity of social media, she warned that everyone, including users, has a role to play in keeping it safe for the young.
She also called for more direct action from users when spotting any disturbing content or suspicious activity on the internet.
“Social media platform providers have taken steps to improve content monitoring by using AI to detect harmful material such as cyberbullying, the sharing of harmful content and illegal or unsafe activities.
“Users are also given the ability to report inappropriate content they encounter online. This is where public involvement becomes crucial. With millions of posts uploaded daily, it’s impossible to manually screen each one, so community participation is essential,” said the lawyer-turned-media specialist.
She said the blame should not be shifted only to social media providers if anything untoward happens.
“Social media platforms wouldn’t allow young kids to register an account with them. Their algorithms would not make it easy for minors to sign up.
“So, either these kids found a way to register themselves, or there were parents or guardians who signed them up.”
Mediha highlighted the importance of learning about online safety features when allowing children access to the internet.
“For instance, we worked with Google to educate parents on the harm that may come to their children if they’re left alone online, and how the safety features developed by the tech giant can help protect them.”
She added that parents should not wait to witness the damage the internet could cause to their children.
“Kids nowadays are not merely content consumers, they actively engage with and are part of the online world, whether through gaming or other social media platforms.
“When the internet was first made accessible to the public, everyone wanted a piece of it, and we made sure the infrastructure was in place to allow access to the World Wide Web.
“But now, we’ve realised the damage it can cause, and countries around the world are working hard to regulate it. The same goes for other tech developments, such as social media platforms and user-generated AI. We must not wait to see how they affect our children growing up, we must act now.”
Malaysia recorded a rise in the number of sexual offences involving children in 2023, an increase of 26.5% compared with 2024.
Of the 1,567 incidents recorded, 67 involved child pornography, 16 sexually communicating with a child and four on child grooming.
