“MY late father restricted our social media use since childhood — and I am grateful for it.”
Those words from my daughter Nina, now in her early twenties, struck me deeply.
Two years after losing my husband, her reflection reminded me that what once felt like a rigid rule was, in fact, a shield.
Her unease is real. The endless stream of headlines on child sexual exploitation online has already left her unsettled. And it is precisely this anxiety that made me pause — coinciding with my recent participation in a roundtable on the Online Safety Act 2025 and the escalating threat of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Why CSAM matters now
The numbers are staggering. In September, Malaysian authorities seized more than 880,000 CSAM-related files and arrested 31 individuals across 37 locations.
The sophistication of these networks — anonymous accounts, manipulated images, coerced recordings, even cashless payment systems — reveals how dangerous and elusive this menace has become.
The government’s move to set a minimum age of 16 for social media access, backed by age-assurance and identity verification, is a step forward. But as UNICEF reminded us, age limits alone are not enough. Platforms must balance protection with children’s rights to learn, connect, and express themselves.
And here lies the truth parents often overlook: restriction, monitoring, and involvement matter. My late husband, a musician with flexible hours, spent more time with our children than I did. He enforced boundaries — phones only outside school hours, never in bedrooms, always monitored. It worked. Nina herself admits, “It proved effective. He succeeded.”
We cannot simply trust teenagers to navigate the digital abyss alone.
Boundaries may feel old-fashioned, but they are necessary. At the same time, we must invest in after-school programs, creative workshops, sports clubs, and mental health support.
We must create spaces where parents and teens meet, offline, to build resilience that carries into the online world.
Because banning social media won’t teach empathy, nor will it keep teens away from the dark web. But spending time with our children, guiding them, and helping them build resilience online just might. – December 15, 2025
The writer is a Senior Sub Editor at Scoop.my