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Grima said that students were now allowed to openly access the web through these devices, with the logic being that several students didn’t have access to alternative devices in an educational context where internet access had suddenly become so crucial.

However, filters weren’t introduced and pre-COVID restrictions on internet navigation weren’t reintroduced to the LearnPads once schools returned to normal.

Things changed when the son of Gege Gatt, a well-known Maltese AI entrepreneur and IT expert, was given his own tablet.

Gatt checked his son’s tablet out and was shocked to discover how easy it was for students to search for and discover unfiltered pornography and other dangerous content, including YouTube videos on the Jihadi Creed and bomb-making.

As a technologist and a father, he noticed the implications of children being given access to this kind of content at such a vulnerable age.

Not only did it go against an EU strategy obliging member states to provide children with a safe and age-appropriate digital environment, but it raised serious questions about the Maltese state’s role in an extremely online world.

Essentially, if every electronic device at home included parental controls, a child could bypass all of this by using a device provided to them by the government.

Gatt also warned that a lack of content filtering places children at risk of algorithmic targeting.

“If a child, perhaps accidentally, has watched radical content once, the YouTube algorithm will follow that with more of the same,” he noted.

“This exploits their inexperience and lack of self-control and pulls them down the rabbit-hole. This exacerbates inappropriate behaviour which then creates more harm in the family nucleus and society at large.”

Gatt flagged the issue with MITA, who sent him to the Education Department. In an email, Emile Vassallo, director general of the Directorate for Educational Services, thanked Gatt for bringing the matter to their attention and promised that “appropriate action” will be taken.

Grima said that while a return to pre-COVID internet restrictions was discussed, he deemed it to be an undesirable option.

“Educators use the Internet so much in their courses that the LearnPads should be more accessible, and children should learn how to navigate the Internet too,” he remarked.

The solution was therefore a introduce a cloud-based URL filtering system for LearnPads that would block all access to websites deemed to be malicious. He said the list will be continuously updated and the Education Department will have visibility on the blocked sites.

The new system is set to be implemented in the coming weeks.

Cover photo: Left: Education Minister Clifton Grima, Right: A Google search for porn on a LearnPad device

Should the state play a more active role in safeguarding children from dangerous online content?