Times are different now. Many of us “thrived” on social media back then with Friendster and Myspace but today, it’s mostly TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Just today (March 13), in Parliament, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil highlighted parents’ and guardians’ responsibilities in monitoring their children’s online activities. Based on a search, Famhi said that most social media – X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Whatsapp, TikTok all have a minimum age requirement.
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Users have to be at least 13 years old. Telegram, on the other hand, requires a higher age registration – 16 years old.
“Most social media platforms have an age requirement whereby only those aged 13 years and above are allowed to register for an account.”
Now, anyone can hide the truth online. There are no certain ways for the applications to know if the users lie about their age. When it comes to this, the government will soon introduce Parental Control Tools as an improvement over the existing guidelines that are not good enough.
“This will allow parents to monitor, filter, limit and block what their children are exposed to online, and also to make sure the age limit condition is met.”
This is the government’s effort to allow children to benefit positively from social media platforms, as long as they are supervised by adults. Fahmi added that Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has worked with 5 telecommunication providers in the country to make Parental Control Tools available.
Fahmi also shared that he had met a lot of Standard 1 until Standard 6 students, where he discovered something shocking.
“90% of them have TikTok accounts.”
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He reminds all parents or guardians must take their digital parenting role seriously and stay alert on what their kids are up to online.
There is no absolute certainty about what the kids may stumble upon online. Do you think it’s a good move from MCMC to introduce the Parental Control Tools?
Also read: “Be supportive!” – M’sian Tells Everyone Not to Criticise Others Who Show Happiness on Social Media
