The platform will use age estimation technology and identity checks to verify users’ ages, while stressing that privacy safeguards remain in place.

The challenge lies in protecting children online while ensuring that solutions remain fair, coordinated and realistic for the long term.

In some cases, parents are no longer able to work due to ill health; in others, they have been retrenched, retired on modest pensions, or face a combination of setbacks.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said platforms will be required to implement strict age verification systems, describing the current online ecosystem as a digital space where regulation has failed to keep children safe.

Many parents in Malaysia, although deeply invested in their children’s wellbeing, may have limited emotional bandwidth to consistently monitor subtle behavioural shifts.

Photo: Canva For young people, cybercrime often shows up as online grooming, harassment, pressure to share private images, or being threatened with exposure.

Chatbots are being shaped to respond safely and respectfully for younger users.

Muhammad Irfan Zamiri and his mother, Norazah Zain have been living in Australia for more than a decade.

Swiss authorities have signalled openness to discussing age limits or tighter controls, taking cues from Australia’s recent decision to restrict social media access for children under 16.

In the United States, YouTube remains the most widely used platform among teens, followed closely by TikTok and Instagram, while older platforms like Facebook and Snapchat have seen declining engagement. Photo: Canva