BY: IRMA SURIANI

Experts are divided over the feasibility and impact of the nation’s proposal to restrict social media access for users under the age of 16 and warned that legal, cybersecurity and behavioural challenges must be considered.

Already parents and children are voicing out on the censorship that is proposed and this is why stakeholders involved in the decision making process called for thorough studies before enforcement is formalised.

These experts cite the upcoming Online Safety Act 2025 as ‘a very practical and workable law’ for controlling and monitoring children’s online activities including imposing age limits on social media platforms.

Cybersecurity experts state that the electronic Know-Your-Customer (eKYC) protocol is a good way to go about safety concerns as the protocol reduces scams on platforms that adopt strict privacy safeguards to prevent misuse.

Other alternatives these experts cite is to show age-only proof, in which a trusted checker confirms a person is over 13 or 18 years, depending on the required details to be furnished, without sharing or revealing their full identity.

Communications experts state that as digital spaces play an important role in a young person’s life to learn, communicate and participate in society freedom of expression must not be curtailed among them.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher