Online Child Safety: The Myth and Reality of Cybersecurity Laws in Malaysia

Abstract

The accelerated growth of online engineering has amplified both possibilities and risks for children in a digital environment. In 2024-2025, Malaysia has inaugurated legal transformations with the enactment of Cyber Security Act 2024 and Online Safety Act 2025; and the amendment of Communications and Multimedia (Amendment) Act 2025, Penal Code (Amendment) 2025, and Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2024. The main purpose is to enhance protections facing harmful content and digital exploitation. This paper aims to examine the extent of the online safeguards for child safety under the newly introduced digital legislation in Malaysia and to compare them to those of the Australian Online Safety Act 2021 and the United Kingdom Online Safety Act 2023. The paper concludes that Malaysia should consider few highly effective initiatives impose in the Australian and the UK digital regimes including an integrated regulatory authority, risk assessments specific for children safety and stringent take down rules to be closer with international standards and practices in online child protection.