Malaysia plans to ban social media for users under 16 from next year, another country following a global push for restrictions on children’s online safety.
Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmy Fazil said on Sunday that his government is reviewing the age-restriction process used in Australia and several other countries, Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported. He said it was now urgent to protect teenagers from cyberbullying, financial fraud, child pornography and other online harm.
“We want social media platforms to comply with the government’s decision by next year, and no one under 16 can open a user account,” he told reporters.
There is growing global concern about the impact of social media on children’s mental health and safety. TikTok, Snapchat, Google and Meta Platforms—which operate Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp—are facing lawsuits in the United States. Their platforms are accused of exacerbating the mental health crisis among teenagers.
Australia is preparing to deactivate the accounts of users under the age of 16 from next month. The sweeping ban on teenagers is now under the watch of regulators around the world. France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Greece are jointly testing a model for age-verification apps.
Malaysia’s neighbor Indonesia announced plans to set a minimum age for social media use last January. It later relaxed its stance, ordering technology companies to weed out harmful content and implement stronger age verification systems.
Malaysia has tightened its surveillance of social media companies in recent years, citing a rise in harmful content, including online gambling and inflammatory posts about race, religion and monarchy. Under the new regulations, social media and messaging platforms in Malaysia with more than eight million users will now have to obtain a license. It came into effect in January this year.
