Parents concerned about children's activities on social media

SHAH ALAM - Parents of teenage social media users are mainly concerned about the inappropriate contents that their children might consume on social media as well as the time they spent on the virtual world.

Instagram head of public policy (Apac), Philip Chua said it was the basic responsibilty of Instagram to make sure that any content in violation of the rules should be removed not be seen by the users.

“However, then you realise there are very interesting dissections between online problems and offline situations.

“On the top of the minds of parents, were issues of bullying and harassment. It could be an inappropriate content, it could be time management not only on Instagram but also on other platforms.

“But they (teens) like not to feel alone and like to feel comfortable,” he said.

Chua said this during an exclusive interview with Sinar Daily on its Fireside Chat programme entitled "Virtual Youth and Internet Safety".

Commenting on online safety for teens, Chua said parents and children must be willing to work together.

“I think what is important is that teens need to participate in order for it to work," he said.

Apart from parents, he said the community should also play a role in spreading awareness to show that it was better to be safe and receive the support.

Chua said in improving the supervision on Instagram, the social meda platform's team had went for various consultations and talked to number of communities.

“Some want more control and what we are focusing on mostly is age appropriate (usage) on Instagram.

“It means that if you are 13, the kind of data that you are able to consume is fundamentally different from that of those who are 16,” he said.

He said they wanted to make sure that the default and settings on Instagram were age appropriate and to ensure teens have a smooth scrolling experience.