KUALA LUMPUR: Parents who allow their underage children to use social media and messaging platforms, despite age restrictions, could be held legally accountable for negligently exposing them to harmful content.
Originally designed to facilitate communication and foster connections, these platforms have unfortunately become hunting grounds for criminals, including sexual predators, who exploit anonymity and weak oversight to target vulnerable users.
As part of their safety guidelines, many platforms, such as WhatsApp, TikTok and Facebook, set a minimum user age of 13-years-old, while Telegram recommends users to be at least 16. However, these age limits are often ignored.
A review by the New Sunday Times (NST) on social media and messaging platforms found that weak verification systems, which often rely on self-declared birth dates, make it easy for underage users to bypass restrictions and set up accounts.
Many platforms do not have verification measures, allowing users to register without having to provide their real names or birth dates.
Bukit Aman's Sexual, Women and Child Investigations Division (D11) principal assistant director Senior Assistant Commissioner Siti Kamsiah Hassan said Section 31 of the Child Act 2001 stipulated parents' responsibility to safeguard their children from abuse, including sexual exploitation.
Negligence by parents leading to their children being exposed to dangers due to the latter's use of social media could see parents being fined, imprisoned or both.
"Section 31 covers neglect, including situations where a child becomes a victim of crimes such as sexual exploitation," Siti Kamsiah said.
She added that Section 19 of the Sexual Offences Act placed responsibility on parents, who are aware of but fail to address their children's involvement in harmful or illegal activities.
"If parents know their child is sharing inappropriate materials, the responsibility falls on them. They must take proactive steps to address and prevent such behaviour."
While many cases involving sexual content depicted minors as victims, she cautioned that some minors willingly shared or even sold their explicit images or videos.
This, she said, placed additional emphasis on the need for parents to monitor their children's online activities.
"In such situations, awareness campaigns must focus on identifying the true predators — those exploiting these materials — rather than solely the minors involved.
"Parents play a critical role in this effort by supervising and guiding their children."
Criminal lawyer Salim Bashir said parents could face legal action under Section 28 of the Child Act, which governs negligence in supervision and failure to provide security and protection for the well-being of children.
However, this provision is more applicable when children commit offences and not when they are victims.
"If a child is involved in crime, such as sexual exploitation or online gambling, and the parents deliberately ignore it, they can be held liable for negligence in failing to supervise their children."
The NST had, in the past few days, exposed the widespread availability of pornographic content on social media, including child sexual abuse material.
The growing demand for such content, coupled with the lack of safeguards on these platforms, has heightened parents' concerns about their children's safety.
Investigations uncovered numerous local accounts offering explicit material, including storyline-driven content rivalling international productions.
This surge in content is pushing Malaysia towards becoming a hub for explicit material, endangering children who access these platforms.
Cybersecurity consultant C.F. Fong suggested that Malaysia emulate China, which requires individuals to use verified real identities for social media accounts.
This, he said, would deter online predators from exploiting the platforms.
"Right now, anyone can pretend to be someone else. You can open a Facebook account and pose as another person, and it's difficult to control unless there is a law that mandates compliance," he said.
"Then, it would be clear that anyone you see on social media has been verified and is genuine."