Google and YouTube have launched a new initiative in Malaysia called ‘Bijak Digital Bersama Google dan YouTube’, aimed at helping families become safer and smarter digital citizens in an increasingly AI-driven online world.
The programme comes alongside a new YouGov survey commissioned by Google, which found that Malaysian parents are becoming more concerned about online risks but are still struggling to turn awareness into effective digital safety habits at home.
According to the survey, 67% of Malaysian parents say they are confident guiding their children on AI-related issues. However, Google says there is still a growing ‘resilience gap’ as many families continue to rely on active monitoring instead of teaching long-term digital responsibility and critical thinking skills.
Online safety and privacy remain the biggest concern among Malaysian parents, with 56.8% identifying it as their top worry. Despite this, only 38.9% feel confident protecting their child’s personal data online. Content exposure is another major issue, with 54.5% of parents worried about it while 86.1% believe their kids are at risk of seeing misinformation or harmful content online.
On top of that, 52.7% of parents say they struggle to manage their children’s device usage, and yet only 21% use remote locking parental control features. Google says these challenges often lead parents to adopt ‘active monitoring’ strategies, which can become both exhausting and a source of tension between them and their kids.
“Parents today are more engaged than ever in guiding their children online, but many are still navigating unfamiliar ground as technology continues to evolve.
At Google, our goal is to protect kids and teens in the digital world, not from the digital world. That’s why we have been building age-appropriate experiences for our younger users and developing tools that help families manage their relationship with technology.
By equipping families with the right tools and knowledge, we hope to ensure that children are able to navigate the Internet safely and confidently,” – Ben King, Google Malaysia Country Managing Director
As part of the initiative, Google and YouTube are highlighting several existing tools designed to help families build healthier digital habits instead of simply restricting access.
This includes SafeSearch, which filters explicit content from Google Search results, as well as YouTube Kids which tailors video content for the younguns. Google also highlighted Family Link, which allows parents to manage children’s app usage, set screen time limits and monitor websites their kids visit.
They can even set up ‘school time’ to minimise distractions when their kids need to focus while studying. For YouTube specifically, parents can also enable digital wellbeing reminders to discourage their kids from watching too many videos in one go or when it’s time to go to sleep. They can even set how much YouTube time they get, which Shorts now able to be set to zero minutes too.
If you’re a parent looking for more information on how to help your kids be best prepared when surfing the web, you can click here to head over to Google’s Be Internet Awesome page, which helps both parents and children equip themselves with practical skills to navigate the online world safely.
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