The parents of a Northern Cape boy became worried when their son spent more time on his cellphone than interacting with the people around him.
They were shocked to find, when they went through his phone records last month, that he had been chatting to a 37-year-old man said to groom young boys for sex.
The Film and Publication Board, along with Google, Unicef and other organisations, announced a partnership yesterday designed to create awareness of cyber safety and fight online child pornography.
The national programme, which will begin this month, will promote the safer and more responsible use of the internet and online technologies.
It kicked off at Jules High School, Johannesburg. The school made headlines in 2010 because of a sex-video scandal involving three pupils.
Publication Board spokesman Prince Ndamase said unmonitored internet use by young children was dangerous.
"Our research shows that about 70% of children have come across pornography on the internet, showing how accessible porn is."
He said children exposed to pornography online were at risk of being groomed for sex .
Police are investigating allegations made against a 37-year-old man arrested in Kimberley, Northern Cape, last month.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Sergio Kock said a team followed tip-offs about child pornography on the internet.
"The police seized pornographic material involving children and arrested the suspect at his house. An 11-year-old boy was with the suspect at the time," Kock said.
It is alleged that the accused lured street children - most of them boys - from shopping malls and persuaded them to pose indecently for photographs and to perform sexual acts.
Google's local public policy manager, Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, said the involvement of parents in their children's use of the internet was important.
"The internet is a modern-day playground where there have to be rules on how children can interact with information and with each other," he said. - Additional reporting by Farren Collins and Siviwe Feketha
Eight nabbed in swoop
At least eight men were arrested during random raids by the Johannesburg Metro Police, Film and Publication Board and the Commercial Crime Unit yesterday.
The film board received a tip-off that a large number of pornographic DVDs were being sold illegally in the city's CBD.
While it has not yet been established whether the DVDs contained child porn, film board CEO Themba Wakashe said: "The material confiscated today will be presented in court as part of the evidence against the suspects." - Poppy Louw
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