Malaysia targets June rollout of social media curbs for under-16s, Fahmi says

PUTRAJAYA, April 16 — The government plans to impose restrictions on social media account access for children under the age of 16 as part of efforts to strengthen online protection.

Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the move is expected to be implemented by the end of June, subject to final review.

“The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is currently conducting a regulatory sandbox with social media platforms to identify mechanisms currently used by service providers.

“Secondly, we want to standardise the mechanism. We are not looking at just ‘age assurance’, but ‘age verification’, as Malaysia’s legal framework differs in that we have official government documents such as the MyKad,” he told reporters after attending the Communications Ministry’s monthly assembly here today.

Also present were Deputy Communications Minister Datuk Teo Nie Ching, Communications Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abdul Halim Hamzah and Bernama Chief Executive Officer Datin Paduka Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin.

Fahmi said MCMC had held in-depth discussions on the proposed restrictions with social media platforms in Singapore last Friday.

“They are currently reviewing the matter and will present it to me, possibly within the next week. We will then decide, and we hope to implement the restrictions around June or July,” he said.

He added that several social media platforms have expressed readiness to implement the restrictions, with further discussions expected to be tabled soon before a final decision is made.

Fahmi had previously said the government is conducting a regulatory sandbox with platforms to introduce a minimum age limit of 16 for new account registrations.

Media reports have indicated that restrictions on social media access for children are gaining traction globally, following Australia’s move to ban users under 16 last year due to the negative impact of such platforms on young users. — Bernama