PETALING JAYA: When her 12-year-old daughter sought Dahlia’s permission to open a TikTok account, the mother of two was worried at first.
But she eventually relented and allowed her child to start an account and post her activities on the social media platform, because it was a norm for kids these days to have a presence online.
Just a month after her daughter started the account on her 13th birthday, Dahlia’s worst fear came true – her child had been receiving messages from a male stranger asking her for private information and even a chance to meet in person.
“It was several messages sent to her account mostly by male users but one kept messaging her despite receiving no reply.
“He commented privately about her posts, her attire, her friends and he tried to repeatedly get her attention by asking about her day,” Dahlia told The Star.
“So far, my daughter has only used the account to watch content but she has posted a video or two that I have approved.”
The male stranger started to message the girl after she had approved their friends’ requests without her mother’s knowledge and Dahlia now fears that any correspondence with him will lead to harm.
“I checked the account and it was a teenage boy or someone pretending to be one, as there were no posts except for a name and age on their profile,” she said. Dahlia agreed with the government’s plans to meet with TikTok’s management and discuss the issue of children owning TikTok accounts. Dahlia, who works in the banking sector, said that it is time that the authorities better protect children online.
“While parents and guardians have to educate their children on social media use, the authorities need to support us with the right laws to prevent incidents such as online sexual harassment, paedophilia and bullying,” she said.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the meeting with TikTok’s management will bring up the government’s findings that children under 13 had accounts on the platform despite its own community guidelines stating that users must be above 13.
Fahmi added that he will discuss with the Attorney General if it is necessary to take legal action against TikTok.
In September last year, the European Union slapped a whopping fine of €345mil (RM1.7bil) against China-owned TikTok for violating privacy laws in Europe and after investigators discovered that it had allowed children under 13 to open accounts.
