FROM 2015 to 2018, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) blocked more than 400 websites containing child sexual abuse content through collaborations and information-sharing with Interpol and the Royal Malaysia Police.

MCMC’s chief compliance officer Zulkarnain Mohd Yassin said the action was taken under Section 211 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, which prohibits the content application service provider or other persons using the service to provide, produce or solicit indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive content with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person.

“The MCMC worked with eight major telecommunications and internet service providers to make available parental control software at an affordable rate,” he said in his welcoming remarks at the Industry Seminar and Workshop on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse 2019 at the MCMC headquarters today.

The two-day seminar which began today was jointly organised by MCMC and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

Zulkarnain said ensuring a safe online environment for children depended on collaborations and cooperation with multi stakeholders and required a comprehensive role and increased media literacy as well as building resilience in a well-regulated environment.

Meanwhile, MCMC’s head of digital literacy department Elvira Shamsuddin in her presentation on trends in Malaysia said only 12.2%of parents used parental control services to ensure their children’s online safety.

“Other parents choose to check their child’s social media account or browser history, discuss with their children about online safety, sit with their children when they are using the Internet and set limits of Internet usage to their child,” she said.

Elvira said society needed to do more to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children when using the internet. – Bernama, April 24, 2019.