Back in June, Tune Talk launched the Epik+ Family Safe mobile plan which has parental controls built in at the network level, rather than relying on the usual app-level restrictions. Today, the MVNO announced that it has appointed former Deputy Police Chief of Selangor, Sasikala Devi Subramaniam, who is also on Tune Talk’s Board of Directors, as the brand ambassador for the mobile plan. She will be lending her public-safety experience to the company’s public-education efforts, “helping Malaysian parents better understand the risks their children face online and the practical steps they can take to reduce them”.
As part of the announcement, the telco noted that children today are growing up in a digital environment that provides unprecedented access to information, communication and entertainment. Equally, they are exposed to age-inappropriate content, cyberbullying, scams, as well as other harmful interactions. Sasikala said that “at the enforcement end, we often see the consequences when prevention has failed … That experience teaches us that child safety cannot be left to parents alone, and it cannot depend only on action after an incident”.
In case you missed it, the highlight of the Tune Talk Epik+ Family Safe mobile plan is the One-Tap Parental Control feature, which is accessible via the Tune Talk app. This is where parents set their preferred limits to the content their child can see online. Beyond blocking adult content as well as violence, drugs and gambling, it also prevents spam, ads, and downloading of bypass tools. Parents then get to choose between three levels of internet protection, simply named low, medium and high.
Going in inverse order, the high level limits browsing only to kid-friendly websites. This means that even social media access is restricted. Medium offers looser limits, letting child users browse more generally, but still restricting social media use. Low unlocks social media access, as well as games, shopping and other entertainment.
