Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil on Tuesday warned parents against an overreliance on mobile devices to serve as “digital nannies” to keep their children occupied, saying he had personally come across children who had their own TikTok accounts despite being below the minimum age limit of 13 set by social media platforms.
The government said it was studying the possibility of enforcing a ban on children below the age of 13 from having social media accounts to protect them from harmful content such as “brain rot” – repetitive short-form entertainment that has been blamed for behavioural changes in young people.
The plan could also include increasing the volume of locally produced family-friendly content approved by the government, and digital literacy modules for children aged 13 and older to help them navigate the deluge of information available online, Fahmi told parliament.
Parents who spoke to This Week in Asia said barring young children from having their own social media accounts was a good move, but argued that it was still a struggle to keep tabs on their children’s digital consumption habits.
