KUALA LUMPUR: The Communications Ministry will work with the Education Ministry to raise awareness among parents to monitor their children's online activities.
Its minister Fahmi Fadzil said online safety, especially for children under the age of 13, must be enhanced following the existence of social media accounts that violate platform guidelines.
"This issue has been raised by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) with various social media platforms and cooperation is needed from both MCMC and the government.
"Following this, I urge parents to monitor their children's social media accounts, especially if they are under 13 as they may easily follow certain trends and they require much mental development ahead.
"I also plan to discuss this further with the Education Ministry and explore joint efforts with them soon, maybe in a week or two," he said when met by reporters at the Back To School Programme organised by MCMC and Shopee at the Lembah Pantai constituency here today.
Asked whether his ministry will come up with a fixed guideline with the Education Ministry on the use of social media accounts for children under 13, Fahmi said his ministry will focus on awareness campaigns at the moment.
"We hope to propose an awareness campaign that can visit schools, and engage with Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and social media platform operators.
"This includes corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to raise awareness among children so they understand the risks of early social media use.
"We also aim to discuss both quick wins and long-lasting solutions within the next two weeks."
Fahmi also acknowledged that the issue extends beyond the country as similar issues were happening in Europe and the United States.
He added that a meeting was recently held with representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Parliament to discuss awareness campaigns for teachers, parents and students regarding online safety.
"Hence, I hope that this is something that can be carried out together with Unicef as well as the Education Ministry through discussions which will be held later."
At the same time, Fahmi said extra measures need to be taken by social media platforms to ensure children's online safety.
He added that while social media platforms rely on self-regulation or parental settings for safety, such regulations might not be sufficient.
"Age verification for new account sign-ups needs improvement and while different platforms have different challenges, TikTok is frequently mentioned today.
"I appreciate TikTok's efforts but more needs to be done for safety.
"I am also concerned about the potential misuse of online messaging for distributing pornography, paedophilia, drugs and online gambling for these children."