TEHRAN -- The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry has urged startups to create quality online content for children, IRNA reported on Thursday.

“Actually we have tried different methods during the past year and finally we understood that the government-based approach is not the solution,” ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said during a meeting with startup owners and entrepreneurs.

The meeting aims to provide special platforms for children and young adults, he explained.

The popular applications can provide special editions for children, hence the parents become sure that it is safe, he said.

The age-appropriate filters for applications and other online services are also very important, he said.

In this way, the parents are aware of what their children watch and the producers are aware of the networks they can offer their works, he explained.

The rapid growth of cyberspace make children more vulnerable, he lamented.  

The improvement of online environment for kids is possible through creating a culture for appropriate online behavior and providing services and content for them, he explained.

He called the cyberspace as an opportunity provided for children and parents to accompany each other.

Some mobile network operators in Iran propose offering special SIM cards for children, he added.

“We believe that providing appropriate content and online ecosystem for children is one the duties of the ICT ministry,” he said.

Azari Jahromi explained that the ICT ministry cooperates with the education ministry to solve the problem.

The ICT ministry is providing infrastructures for safety of children in cyberspace, he said.

The ministry also plans to hold a festival on web series and online short films for children in spring 2019, he announced.

Named Koodakonline, the festival acts as an incubator in the field of creating appropriate content for children and young adults, he concluded 

In mid-November, the ICT ministry released a survey according to which, only eight of Iranian parents monitor their children’s online activity in Iran, the minister wrote on his Twitter account.

The ministry is projected to introduce parental control applications in the near future.  

SB/MQ/MG