What is the status of digital children’s rights?
In this Digital Child Rights Monitor we give insight how the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) addressed digital child rights in its 2026 Concluding Observations on Malaysia. The urgency scale reflects how strongly the CRC highlights an issue in its recommendations — the higher the score, the bigger or more pressing the problem. This scale helps visualize which digital child rights issues the CRC considers most urgent and where Malaysia faces its greatest challenges. If a country gets a low urgency score it does not necessarily mean the country is doing good, it just means the CRC made little to no mention to it.
Summary
Priority
Online Safety & Protection (21) and Digital Access & Participation (20) emerge as the most pressing priorities. Strong emphasis is placed on safeguarding policies and accountability, alongside concerns related to the digital divide, IT infrastructure, and civic participation via digital means. Infrastructure & Capacity (17) and Privacy & Data Protection (16) also receive substantial attention, reflecting a broad focus on both system readiness and children’s digital rights.
Priority
Violence & Exploitation Online (5) receives moderate attention, focused primarily on online sexual exploitation (CSAM), with more limited mention of trafficking and exploitation. This suggests recognition of exploitation-related harms, though with lower priority compared to structural and policy-oriented themes.
Priority
Digital Health & Well-being (0) is not addressed in the data, indicating limited attention to mental health, screen time, and wellbeing-related impacts of digital environments.
Overview themes
- Digital Access & Participation
- Digital Health & Well-Being
- Infrastructure & Capacity
- Online Safety & Protection
- Privacy & Data Protection
- Violence & Exploitation Online
Malaysia shows a broad and relatively balanced focus across multiple dimensions of children’s digital rights. Online Safety & Protection and Digital Access & Participation dominate the landscape, highlighting strong attention to both safeguarding and equitable access. Infrastructure & Capacity and Privacy & Data Protection also receive substantial emphasis, indicating concern for regulatory systems and children’s data rights. In contrast, Digital Health & Well-being is entirely absent, pointing to a significant gap in attention to wellbeing-related issues.
Digital access & participation
- Children with disabilities
- Civic Particpation via digital means
- Digital Divude
- E-Learning
- IT Infrastructure
Digital Access & Participation receives high attention (20), with strong emphasis on the digital divide and IT infrastructure, alongside attention to civic participation via digital means, children with disabilities, and e-learning. This indicates a broad recognition of challenges related to access, inclusion, and participation. The distribution suggests that infrastructure and equitable connectivity are the primary concerns.
Online safety & protection
- Awareness raising campaigns on safe internet use
- Complaint and reporting mechanism
- Safeguarding Policies and accountability in digital media
Online Safety & Protection is the most prominent theme (21), driven primarily by safeguarding policies and accountability in digital media, alongside attention to complaint and reporting mechanisms. This indicates a strong emphasis on accountability and protective frameworks. However, awareness campaigns on safe internet use are not addressed, suggesting limited focus on prevention and education.
Digital health and wellbeing
Digital Health & Well-being is not addressed (0), with no references to mental health, screen time, or support services. This indicates that the broader wellbeing impacts of digital environments are not currently prioritised. It highlights a significant gap in awareness and policy focus.
Violence and exploitation
Violence & Exploitation Online receives moderate attention (5), focused mainly on online sexual exploitation (CSAM) and, to a lesser extent, trafficking and exploitation. This highlights recognition of serious exploitation-related risks. However, the absence of harassment and discriminatory violence suggests incomplete coverage of online harms.
Privacy and data protection
Privacy & Data Protection receives high attention (16), with emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), children’s digital privacy rights, and data protection, surveillance and profiling. This indicates a relatively comprehensive focus on children’s data governance and emerging technological risks. The distribution suggests growing concern about how children’s data is collected and managed.
Infrastructure and capacity
Infrastructure & Capacity receives high priority (17), with strong focus on cybercrime and cybersecurity laws and digitalized systems. This highlights substantial attention to both legal frameworks and technical infrastructure. The absence of training of professionals suggests less focus on institutional capacity-building.
Concluding Observations CRC
- The Committee is concerned about alleged violations of the right to privacy of children who are victims of online violence and whose personal data was leaked on social media. Recalling its general comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, it recommends that the State Party apply a child rights-based approach in the implementation of the Online Safety Act, 2025, to ensure the protection of children’s right to privacy and provide for mechanisms to prosecute violations”
- Concerned… Age-based prohibition and control over access to social media, as limiting children’s access to age-appropriate information and online child-friendly platforms”
- “Adopt a child rights-based approach to the implementation of the Online Safety Act, 2025;”
- “Ensure that children are adequately protected from harmful content and materials and online risks and provide for mechanisms to prosecute violations;”
- “Continue to improve digital inclusion for children in disadvantaged situations and living in remote areas, with accessible and affordable online services;”
- “Scale up the measures taken to enhance the digital literacy and skills of children, teachers and families, including on online risks and safeguards;”
- “Taking note of the adoption of the national action plan on business and human rights (2023–2028), the Committee is concerned about the lack of regulation to protect children’s rights in the context of the business sector, including in the digital environment.”
- “Establish and implement regulations to ensure that businesses, including in the financial, digital and palm sectors, fully comply with children’s rights”
- “Noting the steps taken by the State Party to ensure inclusive digital access”
- “Concerned… Lack of digital literacy and significant digital divide;”
- “Limited guarantee of privacy protection.”
- “Continue to improve digital inclusion for children in disadvantaged situations and living in remote areas, with accessible and affordable online services.”
- “Adopt culturally sensitive measures to ensure the digital inclusion of children living in rural areas of East Malaysia and Indigenous children in West Malaysia;”
- “Strengthen the child protection system to ensure its effectiveness, notably by ensuring intersectoral coordination, nationwide coverage and case management, including in the digital environment, and provide sufficient human, technical and financial resources.”
- “Adopt legislation that prohibits the sale of children, including in the digital environment.”
- “Recalling its general comment No. 25 (2021) and the 2026 joint statement of the Committee and other signing parties on artificial intelligence and the rights of the child, the Committee recommends that the State Party”
- “Elaborate regulations on artificial intelligence in the context of the rights of the child, with a view to ensuring the acceleration of opportunities and protecting them from harm”
- “To review the Sedition Act, 1948, and section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act, 1998, to ensure that children feel safe to express their opinions and are free from censorship, surveillance, intimidation, harassment, bullying and cyberbullying”
- “While noting the launch of the Malaysia National Target Group Information System (MaNIS), the Committee remains concerned about the absence of an integrated system of data collection on children and the limited availability of disaggregated data.”
- “Strengthen its efforts and measures to enhance its data collection system to ensure that data collected on children’s rights cover all areas of the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto, that they include comprehensive data on all vulnerable groups and that data on children’s rights are disaggregated by age, sex, disability, geographical location, ethnic and national origin, socioeconomic background and migrant status, including statelessness”
- “To set up a data collection system on birth registration, in particular among migrant and refugee communities.”
Malaysia
2026
Digital Child Rights Network
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