ABSTRACT
The complexity of social media demands behaviors that must be acknowledged while using it. Therefore, social control measures are crucial to ensure the well-being of the virtual community while navigating social media environments. This paper aims to discuss the social control measures that virtual community members need to understand and practise. The key criteria examined include ethics, values, integrity, filtering and monitoring, punishment, and law enforcement. A quantitative study was conducted through an online survey using Google Forms, targeting Malaysian citizens aged 18 to 57, and analyzed using SPSS software. A total of 374 valid responses were obtained. The findings indicate that the implementation of all key criteria elements is highly significant for enhancing social control in social media use. All elements recorded high mean scores, approaching a significance level of 5.0. In conclusion, awareness and consistent practice of social control measures must be emphasized and taken seriously by all parties, including parents, community members, educators, and relevant authorities. Such efforts will foster a digitally literate, ethically responsible, and socially secure online environment, contributing to national cohesion and digital citizenship.
KEY WORDS
Ethics. Control Measures. Media Users. Online Community. Social Control.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.34135/mlar-25-02-14
Social Control Measures in the Use of Social Media Toward the Virtual Community in Malaysia © 2025 by Muhammad Ridhwan Sarifin, Nur Hafizah Yusoff, UCM Trnava is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.