Social media providers must be liable for their content, says expert

 Amnani A Kadir of Protect and Save the Children says preventing child sexual abuse must be proactive, rather than reactive.

The Online Safety Act, which came into force on Jan 1, requires platforms to embed child safety structures into their design. (Envato Elements pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 Apart from restricting access, social media platforms must be made accountable for content that leads to child sexual abuse, according to an expert on child safety.

Amnani A Kadir, executive director of Protect and Save the Children, an organisation dedicated to protecting vulnerable children and survivors of abuse, said education is also a key part of any plan to keep children safe online.

Safeguards such as accountability should be embedded in the architecture of social media platforms, she told FMT.

“Prevention of child sexual abuse cannot remain reactive,” she pointed out.

The Online Safety Act, which came into force on Jan 1, requires platforms to embed a child safety structure into their design, rather than rely entirely on parental supervision or offering assistance only after the fact.

Amnani pointed out that if artificial intelligence (AI) can already personalise ads and generate hyper-realistic content, it should be possible to embed in social media platforms the capability to proactively scan, flag and disrupt grooming behaviours at the design level.

“If Malaysia wants to move seriously (on child protection) this year, we need tech accountability and AI-driven detection capabilities built into platforms, as well as stronger partnerships between tech companies and law enforcement,” she said.

Amnani said digital safety education should also be made mandatory at school, coupled with broader public awareness of grooming tactics.

“We must educate children not just about ‘stranger danger’ but about tricky, manipulative familiar adults. Most perpetrators are people the child knows, such as relatives, neighbours, coaches, teachers, and religious instructors,” she said.

On Feb 26, a 30-year-old Timorese man in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and two strokes of the rotan for raping a 15-year-old girl he met on TikTok. The girl had only known the man for about a month.

Amnani said perpetrators frequently disguise themselves online using fake identities to gain the trust of minors, sometimes posing as teenagers themselves.

“They create fake accounts, names, genders and identities. Many pretend to be teenagers themselves. They build friendships first. They wait. Predators are patient. They will wait for months if that’s what it takes,” she said.

Joel Low of the Malaysian Society of Clinical Psychology said teenagers’ developing psyches can be particularly vulnerable to online grooming due to a combination of “validation-seeking and wanting to fit in, as well as a teenager’s sense of invulnerability”.

He said such psychological factors make adolescents more receptive to manipulation by predators who gradually build trust over time.

“Most teens live their lives without a great sense of fear, wanting to explore and try out different experiences. That sense of ‘I won’t be the victim’ would probably make them more susceptible to grooming,” he added. - FMT