By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Nov 23: Beginning next year, Malaysians under the age of 16 will not be allowed to sign up for social media accounts, says Communications Minister, Datuk Fahmi Fadzil.
According to a news report by The Star, he said this is aimed towards improving children’s safety online, adding that platform providers are expected to implement electronic know your customer (eKYC) identity verification next year.
“We expect all platform providers to be ready to implement eKYC by next year,” he said during the closing ceremony of an online scam awareness seminar in Kuala Lumpur today.
He added that Australia will also be implementing an age limit on social media users next month, and that the Malaysian government will study the approaches of other countries.
Fahmi said the objective is to ensure that children under 16 are prohibited from accessing social media, noting that this measure forms part of broader protections under the Online Safety Act, which comes into effect on January 1.
For now, he urged parents to support the initiative by encouraging their children to take part in outdoor activities and supervising their gadget use.
In October, the Cabinet agreed to raise the minimum age for social media users to 16, up from the previously proposed age of 13. All platforms will be required to use eKYC to verify users’ ages during registration.
Fahmi said registration must rely on official documents such as MyKad, passports, or MyDigital ID. — DayakDaily
