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Minors accessing harmful online content, particularly via social media, is a top internet safety priority in South Africa and worldwide.
That’s according to ISPA, South Africa’s official internet Industry Representative Body (IRB), on the eve of Safer Internet Day (SID) set for tomorrow, 10 February.
SID 2026 is focused on creating a safer, more responsible online environment for young people worldwide. This annual event comes around this year as more and more countries are passing or considering passing laws that restrict children’s social media access.
Most of the attention is on Australia, which implemented a ban on under sixteens holding accounts on specified platforms for reasons that included exposure to harmful content, as well as mental health concerns and cyberbullying.
The platforms of concern include TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and Australia’s ban came into effect on 10 December 2025. While there are several legal challenges to Australia/s bold approach that will need to work themselves through the system, governments in France, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and New Zealand are actively working to introduce similar prohibitions.
“History shows us that bans are blunt instruments, often carrying sharp consequences – from privacy concerns associated with age verification to minors exploiting easily-available workarounds. Australia adopting this approach speaks volumes about the urgency of taking steps in the face of growing evidence of harms relating to social media use” says Sasha Booth-Beharilal, ISPA chair.
In the spirit of SID, and in the run-up to the development of local approaches to online harms, ISPA provides South African parents and guardians with advice to help keep children safe on social media.
Today, there are many effective content blockers, monitoring apps and other high-tech interventions to keep children safe online.
Adults must research these options and implement what works for their families.
At the same time, parents must accept that children may still access social media on unprotected devices, such as those belonging to friends.
Once informed, actively talking to children in an age-appropriate way about the risks on social media is an absolute must.
A good starting point is explaining that the internet is not always a nice place, and just as in the real world, there are sometimes bad people and bad places.
Further, practical things parents and guardians can do include the following:
- Draw up social media and internet access contracts between parents, guardians and children. There are many good examples online.
- Commit the family’s shared norms and values to paper so that errant online and offline behaviour is easily identified.
- Limit device access in bedrooms and at nighttime. Online predators and cyberbullies are more likely to strike when they think children will not be monitored by their parents.
Underpinning all of the above should be a foundational layer of appropriate instilled values that will immediately alert children to negative online behaviour and content that is best avoided.
ISPA believes that once the above has been done, legislative interventions become an extra layer of protection on top of an already solid foundation.
Ultimately, a healthy dose of critical thinking is the individual internet user’s best defence against online harms, regardless of their age.
“This SID, all of us can help others become more resilient against those that would do us harm online”, concludes Booth-Beharilal.
ISPA is a recognised Industry Representative Body (IRB) representing the interests of over 235 small, medium and large internet service and access provider members.
Check out ISPA’s Cyber Safety Resources page.
