00:01Malaysia's social media age restrictions came into effect on June 1st, 2026, requiring platforms to verify users' ages and restrict
00:10those under 16 from creating accounts.
00:12Civil society organisations, such as Article 19 and Centre of Independent Journalism, have argued that mandatory age verification could undermine
00:20privacy and freedom of expression,
00:23particularly if users are required to submit government-issued identification or biometric data.
00:27The groups have also questioned whether a blanket ban addresses the root causes of online harm.
00:34United Nations experts and child rights advocates have also cautioned that age-based restrictions should avoid limiting children's access to
00:41information, participation and expression online.
00:45Centre for Independent Journalism Executive Director, Vatshla Naidu, argues that the ban only treats the symptoms, not the underlying issues.
00:53Because ultimately, the harm is never going to go away. Bullying happened when I was a kid, bullying is still
01:00continuing.
01:02What has changed is the medium. So our final point has always been to address the root causes of why
01:10this happens.
01:10Why does hate speech happen? Hate speech doesn't happen in vacuum. Is it because of our skin colour? Is it
01:16because of our nationality? Right?
01:18What is propelling and allowing this to proliferate? So address the root causes and then we slowly find the solutions
01:26to address the larger harm.
01:27So I think we need to think outside the box a little bit. Don't just focus, you know, go into
01:32this whole tunnel vision, you know, TikTok's the problem, Facebook's the problem, Instagram's the problem and just ban access, right?
01:39That's not going to resolve anything. Because if it's not this TikTok, not this licensed service providers, there's going to
01:45be other service providers, right?
01:47And you don't want children to fall into these rabbit holes. That's not regulated.
01:52Communications and Multimedia Content Forum CEO Mediha Mahmood shares that parents should continue to play an active role in preparing
01:59their children to navigate online spaces safely, as restrictions alone may not address all the challenges teens face online.
02:07So I think the discussion now is even the government has also been talking about how about we have sort
02:12of a middle point where parents can also play a role, especially with older teens.
02:16I mean, the younger ones, it's a different question, but the older teens who will be exposed to or will
02:20be experiencing social media in a couple of years, it's probably better for them to be guided in that space
02:25rather than blocked from that space.
02:27Parents too are divided. Some worry a sudden cutoff could push teenagers toward unregulated corners of the internet.
02:33The star also attended a digital literacy workshop by TikTok to speak directly with parents, creators and experts.
02:41So what if suddenly you just ban and there's thousands of these kids, what are they going to do?
02:48A lot of things needs to really be given a deep thought about it before you actually execute certain things.
02:56When I first heard about it, I was like, okay, good. But then when I think about it again, after
03:01a while, I was thinking that, wait, wait, if we just ban it altogether, what next?
03:08What would teenagers do? They might search for other things to replace what is being banned. And we don't know
03:15what they're replacing it with.
03:16So there are some concerns there as well. Although initially, I thought it was a good idea. Then I had
03:22some doubts.
03:23For me, we need to get involved and need to know what they are looking for.
03:28Bila kita bagi mereka access to the internet, we need to know so that kita tahu apa yang mereka buat,
03:37apa yang mereka cari dari situ.
03:38We need to play our role as parents.
03:41It's about teaching and learning the safe way. At the end of the day, ban pun ban. But then again,
03:49if ban and then they're still not safe,
03:51they go and find other ways to go into VPNs, then what? You think you're safe? No, you're not.
03:56You just have to teach them the right way to stay safe.
03:59Like all these digital safety features on TikTok, so I wasn't really aware of them.
04:04So I thought it was really, really good for us to really go through all the features that actually TikTok
04:09has to offer.
04:10Compared to other social media platforms, I feel like the features that they have currently are pretty comprehensive.
04:17TikTok has family pairing that links a parent's account to their teens, giving them one place to manage settings.
04:23Parents can set a daily screen time limit, capping usage and prompting a break once it's reached.
04:27The private account toggle controls who can view content and send direct message.
04:34Meta, on the other hand, provides protection for teens under 16 through teen accounts, alongside tools for parents to monitor
04:40their activity.
04:42For Google, the family link feature allows parents to control app access, filter content and set screen time limits.
04:49Safety and security is already a concern in offline spaces.
04:54Obviously, then they find some level of safety, right?
04:59In online spaces, kids interact.
05:02I mean, they don't even talk to each other, but they are interacting on these digital platforms.
05:07And that's because there is no alternative.
05:09So can we provide them an alternative, right?
05:13If you cannot provide an alternative, you are completely isolating an entire generation.
05:26These PDFs can bring you on up and dropouts and make sure you stay steady
05:26no more on you.
05:29Please use these images for materials.
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