The government and partners have moved to seal loopholes where harmful internet content leaks out to minors in the country.

 The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) in collaboration with Netflix, Google and TikTok on Tuesday unveiled a tool urgently needed by parents and caregivers to enable children access safe internet content. And it was described as a latest move to keep the children safe from bullying, and seeing material that can corrupt their minds.

The key objective of the Parents’ Digital Literacy Programme (PaDiL) according to KFCB Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Wambua is to enhance the capacity of parents and caregivers to guide children on how to consume audio-visual content responsibly as well as utilise digital spaces safely. “Parents and caregivers are indeed critical points of contact for children, and hence the need to arm them with skills that they can use to help the young ones under their care to navigate the digital space safely,” he said during the launch in Nairobi yesterday.

Emerging technologies

The Programme also seeks to create awareness on the effects of media content and emerging technologies on children.

This is after recent fatal activities that saw a sizeable number of minors take away their lives, while others became lawless, a situation attributed to what they consume on the internet.

“It has also become critical and urgent in light of digital transformation, which has resulted in an increase in devices that connect to the internet in our homes,” he explained, with recent revelations showing that two-thirds of internet-using children had not been taught how to stay safe online.

Youth Affairs and the Arts Principal Secretary, Ismail Madey said that despite the fact that research has shown that access to internet among children results in better learning outcomes, there is need to address existing gaps to make it holistically valuable.