TikTok Takes On Digital Safety With #ThinkTwice Training For Malaysian Parents

The session included a step-by-step guide on how to use TikTok’s Family Pairing, a feature that allows parents to remotely adjust their teens’ usage of the app.

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TikTok is doubling down on digital safety in Malaysia, moving beyond awareness campaigns and into hands-on action with the launch of its new #ThinkTwice Training initiative.

The move builds on the success of TikTok’s ongoing #ThinkTwice campaign, which has already racked up nearly 400 million views on educational content and drawn over 1.4 million visits to its multilingual knowledge hub.

Now, the platform wants to turn that awareness into real-world skills.

From Awareness To Action

Unlike traditional online safety campaigns, #ThinkTwice Training focuses on practical, hands-on learning.

The programme is structured as a series of train-the-trainer workshops, targeting community figures such as parents, content creators, educators, and civil society groups. The goal? To equip them with the tools and confidence needed to navigate online risks, and guide others in doing the same.

For its launch, TikTok partnered with the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia and the Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE), bringing in experts to share insights on raising responsible digital citizens.

From left to right: Tunku Munawirah Putra, Honorary Secretary of PAGE; Jeremy Ng, Senior Communications Manager of TikTok and TikTok Shop Malaysia; Bea Bautista, Communications Lead for Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines at TikTok; Mediha Mahmood, CEO of Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia.

Helping Parents Keep Up

TikTok says one of the biggest challenges today is the speed at which technology evolves — often leaving parents struggling to keep up.

“We know it can be difficult for parents to keep up with the fast pace of technology,” said Malaysia Head of Public Policy at TikTok Firdaus Fadzil, adding that the platform aims to simplify things through its “Safety by Design” approach.

According to TikTok, teen accounts come with more than 50 privacy and security settings enabled by default, reducing the need for parents to manually configure everything from scratch.

Through the training, parents are also taught how to use features like Family Pairing, allowing them to link their accounts with their children’s and manage settings in just a few clicks.

Attendees pairing their devices using the TikTok Family Pairing feature.

“Digital Skills Are Life Skills”

Industry players and parent groups alike say the initiative comes at a crucial time.

“Digital skills are life skills,” said Mediha Mahmood, Chief Executive Officer of Content Forum. She stressed that empowering parents with knowledge and tools can help raise teens who are not only digitally savvy, but also resilient and responsible.

Rather than restricting access, she argued that guidance is key.

“Instead of shutting teens out, we should be guiding them — letting them learn to navigate the digital world with our support.”

The Fireside Chat Session, a panel discussion on digital literacy promoting safe, responsible, and positive online behavior.

Balancing Creativity And Safety

For parent advocacy groups, the conversation isn’t just about protection, it’s also about opportunity.

Tunku Munawirah Putra, the Honorary Secretary of PAGE, highlighted that digital platforms play a role in fostering creativity, self-confidence, and even future economic opportunities for young people.

“Creative expression is vital, and digital participation translates into economic value,” she said, while acknowledging that many parents struggle to keep pace due to busy schedules.

Her solution? Platforms that make safety easier by default and tools that don’t require a tech degree to use.

Family Pairing: Learning By Doing

One of the key highlights of the workshop was an interactive safety simulation, where participants were guided through real-life scenarios using TikTok’s built-in tools using its Family Pairing feature.

Attendees using TikTok’s safety features according to the Family Pairing
infographic.

TikTok’s Family Pairing allows parents and guardians to customise or view more than 20 content, privacy, and well-being settings for their teen or teens. These settings include:

Screen Time Limits
Private Account settings
Restricted Mode
Creator Care Mode
Direct Messaging

The control parents have over these settings help them ensure their children or teens are not exposed to content that would otherwise be damaging or inapporpriate.

Meanwhile, settings like restrictions on Direct Messages blocks potential criminals such as predators or scammers from communicating with minors.

Participants were also walked through the step-by-step process of linking their accounts with their teens’, giving them practical experience rather than just theory.

Attendees participating in the TikTok #ThinkTwice Training Safety Simulation pop-up where they demonstrated how its safety features help parents protect teens’ digital experiences in real-life scenarios.

The Bigger Picture

With #ThinkTwice Training set to roll out to more communities throughout the year, TikTok is positioning itself as not just a social media platform, but also a stakeholder in digital education.

In a country where internet usage starts young and runs deep, the message is clear: navigating the digital world safely is no longer optional. It’s essential.

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