PUTATAN: Parents need to be attentive to internet usage by children under 13 years, especially on social media.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said parents should pay special attention to the content browsed by their children to ensure they don’t access unsuitable materials.
He also said children under the age are not suitable to use or own social media accounts as they can be easily exploited by irresponsible parties.
“The ban was established following recommendations and research findings by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which found that children under that age are easily deceived and manipulated by certain parties for negative purposes.
“Ensure that children in this age range do not have TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or any other social media accounts.
“It’s not allowed because there are too many problems occurring. What’s known as sexual grooming and theft of personal data and information is happening now.
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“Imagine our child’s face displayed on social media wearing a school uniform and badge, allowing certain parties to know the location of the child’s school and exposing our child to incidents of abduction and more.
“This has happened, is happening and will continue to happen if we as parents are not attentive or not concerned and allow our children to use social media platforms at too young an age,” he said when officiating the launch of the Putatan-level Malaysia Day Carnival at the Dewan Sri Putatan, here, Saturday.
Fahmi, who is also the spokesperson for the Unity Government, called on the public to continue strengthening unity and mutual respect for one another.
“In conjunction with the Malaysia Day celebration that will take place at Padang Merdeka on Monday, let us maintain the synergy of unity and political stability so that technological progress and economic overflow can be enjoyed together.
“With strong unity and political stability, all plans arranged by various parties, including government agencies, for the benefit of the people can be achieved and enjoyed together,” he said.
