Digital Crackdown: Malaysia Bans Social Media For Teens Under 16

Even as regulators worldwide devise mechanisms to enforce accountability in the midst of growing awareness around social media usage-especially for teenagers-more and more countries turn towards banning such platforms for teenagers below a certain age. The latest instance of such regulatory diktat comes from Malaysia which, starting June, has banned social media apps for teenagers below the age of 16.

According to Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Commission, social media platforms with a user base of more than 8 million will have to put age-verification systems in place and prevent users below the age of 16 from signing up. The commission projects these measures to address online harm through age-appropriate measures.

In a statement made earlier the regulator said "These measures help strengthen the protection of children in the online environment, while providing added reassurance to parents in navigating increasingly complex digital risks.”

While social media platforms are yet to share details on wider implementation, the regulations, as per the Associated Press, expects comprehensive measures with safety-by-design features. Notably, reports also mention overhauling the addictive designs of the apps that fuel compulsive usage.

The Malaysian regulator mentions a grace period for platforms to implement age-verification measures. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in penalties of up to 10 million ringgit ($2.5 million).

The regulations are touted by the government as measures aimed to protect children from harmful content, cyber-bullying and platform features designed to encourage excessive use as per the Associate Press.

Earlier, Meta's director of public policy for Southeast Asia, cautioned that such bans could drive teenagers towards unregulated internet sites. Meta earlier launched ‘teen accounts’ globally for users under the age of 18 with restrictions around contact, screen time and exposure to inappropriate content.

As the realisation around the detrimental effects of social media and the associated addictive app designs grow within governments globally, debates around regulations also draw attention. Countries such as Australia, Brazil and Indonesia have already put restrictions based on age in place for social media platforms. Additionally, Britain, France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea are reportedly considering measures on similar lines.

Apart from concerns of pushing teen users towards unregulated bypasses to access the banned platforms, age-based limitations- such as the ones in contention-are yet to have proven their efficacy. Also, activists have also raised alarm over the need of producing a government ID for age verification thereby bringing data privacy concerns into the mix. The aforementioned regulation also omits penalty provisions for parents if their children manage to bypass the law.