Malaysia intends to ban social media for users under the age of 16 starting next year, Reuters reported.
Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that the government was evaluating mechanisms used to impose age restrictions for social media use in Australia and other countries, citing a need to protect youths from online harms like cyberbullying, financial scams, and child sexual abuse, the report added.
The South Asian nation could join a growing list of countries choosing to limit access to digital platforms because of concerns related to child safety.
“We hope by next year that social media platforms will comply with the government’s decision to bar those under the age of 16 from opening user accounts,” Fadzil told reporters, as per a video of his remarks posted online by local daily The Star.
In Australia, social media companies are poised to deactivate accounts registered to users under the age of 16 next month. Last week, Meta Platforms (META) started contacting teenage users in Australia, warning them to download their account data before the social media ban on accounts takes place.
France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Greece are also evaluating a template for an age verification app, the report noted.
In Malaysia, platforms and messaging services with over 8 million users are required to get a license under a new rule.
In January, Indonesia said it planned to set a minimum age for social media users. However, later it issued less stringent rules requiring tech platforms to filter negative content and impose stronger age verification measures, the report added.
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, TikTok’s parent ByteDance (BDNCE) and Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.