Navigating online sexual content: Young Malay Muslims’ perceptions and self-regulation in the digital landscape

This study examines how Malay Muslim adolescents in Malaysia perceive, encounter and regulate exposure to online sexual content within a highly connected yet morally regulated media ecology. Drawing on four mixed-gender focus group discussions with fifteen participants aged 14–18, we use a framework-guided thematic analysis to trace the mechanisms of encounter and the sequences of response. First exposure was frequently inadvertent and platform-mediated, surfacing via autoplay, recommendations, pop-ups or peer forwards on personal smartphones. Adolescents reported rapid, layered responses marked by strong emotions (shock, embarrassment, guilt, anxiety, curiosity) and strategy bundles that combined technical (close/switch app, block/report, filtering), social (avoidance, selective disclosure, peer advice) and spiritual tactics (prayer, repentance, engagement with religious media). Gendered patterns still emerged within mixed groups. Boys more often narrated curiosity in peer context, whereas girls emphasized avoidance and reputational risk. With malu (‘shame’) operating as a double-edged regulator and protective of abstinence, it is also silencing disclosure. Group composition occasionally dampened personal disclosure, but scenario-based prompts and ground rules enabled mechanism-rich talk without self-incrimination. We advance Faith-Sensitive Porn Literacy (FSPL) as the study’s conceptual contribution. FSPL integrates (1) Digital Childhood and Policy (socio-technical affordances and Malaysian regulatory norms), (2) Porn Literacy and Moral Regulation (negotiated repertoires across technical, social and spiritual domains) and (3) Malay–Islamic moral emotions to explain how adolescents rebuild agency after exposure. The model reframes spiritual practices as legitimate literacy resources that co-occur with technical tactics. It positions parents and teachers as co-regulators when school–home messaging is neutral, harm-reduction oriented and respectful of belief. The article discusses the implications for policy, education and parental engagement. It also drafts the need for digital literacy initiatives that are both developmentally appropriate and culturally grounded to safeguard youth well-being in South East Asia and beyond.