The country is the latest to attempt to restrict young people’s access to social media, amid growing concern over their negative effects on children’s well-being.
Malaysia will force major social networks to verify the age of users and ban under-16s from creating accounts, under new rules that came into force on Monday, following in the footsteps of other countries on this issue. These obligations apply to platforms with at least eight million users in the Southeast Asian country, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Companies will benefit from a grace period to implement these measures, the communications regulatory authority said, without specifying the duration.
The country is the latest to attempt to restrict young people’s access to social media, amid growing concern over their negative effects on children’s well-being. Australia in December became the first country to require TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other major sites to delete accounts held by under-16s, or face hefty fines. It was then imitated by Indonesia in March, while in France, a bill aimed at banning social networks to under 15s was adopted by the Senate.
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Turkey’s parliament approved a similar law in April, and some other European countries, including Norway, Greece, Spain and Denmark, have indicated they will introduce similar restrictions.
The inadequacies of age restrictions
But three months after the entry into force of its new laws, Australia noted that a “substantial proportion of Australian children» continued to use banned platforms. And the UN warned last week of the inadequacies of the age restrictions passed in several countries, calling for firmer measures from States and businesses.
In Malaysia, platforms are required from Monday to put in place “age verification measures“, in particular checks based on official documents such as identity cards or passports. The regulations also require a “strengthened content governance» on social networks, the platforms in front of «implement proactive and systemic measures to mitigate the risks of harmful content».
These rules are accompanied by financial sanctions of up to 10 million Malaysian ringgits (2.16 million euros) for the companies concerned, said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. According to the authority, these measures “are not intended to prohibit children from accessing the internet or to deny them access to technology“, but to promote age-appropriate access to social networks. However, organizations have urged Malaysia to withdraw this “interdiction générale» social networks for under 16s.
«Children should not be prevented from accessing the digital world, they should be able to do so safely and in a way that protects their rights“, British free speech organization Article 19 and other groups said in a joint statement on Friday. HAS”Proposed blanket ban on social media doesn’t address substantive issues with social media companies’ business models and services“, they added.
