Malaysia plans to bar children under the age of 16 from social media starting next year with a close eye to how Australia implements and enforces a similar ban that takes effect next month.
Echoing Australia’s approach, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said on Sunday that the Malaysian government is considering requiring platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to verify users’ ages. He added that social media companies could use a system known as eKYC, or electronic Know Your Customer, to verify identities, using government-issued documents like identification cards and biometric authentication.
“We expect all platforms to implement this by next year,” Mr. Fahmi said on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, at a seminar for cyber scam awareness.
The Ministry of Communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The internet regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, did not issue an immediate comment.
While the timeline and mechanics of the ban remain unclear, the move by Malaysia comes as some experts have warned of the harmful effects of social media on children, as well as adults. The country would join Australia and Denmark as one of the first nations to plan such sweeping action.
On Dec. 10, hundreds of thousands of accounts belonging to children in Australia are expected to be deactivated by social media companies. But even as Australia’s law is on the verge of being implemented, the contours of how it will be enforced and how effective it will be remain unclear. Some critics of the ban argue that social media can provide a positive community to children.
Social media has recently been under intense scrutiny in Malaysia, which has about 8 million children under the age of 16. Last month, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said, without providing specifics, that the technology played a role in the killing of a 16-year-old girl, who was stabbed 200 times by a 14-year-old male schoolmate.
In January, the government said that social media and online messaging platforms would no longer be exempt from requiring a license to operate in Malaysia. The move, the authorities said, would help curb scams, cyberbullying and sexual crimes against children.
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