Malaysia imposes RM10 million fine for social media age restriction violations

Malaysia has officially implemented restrictions on the use of social media for children under the age of 16 as of Monday (1/6), establishing fines of up to 10 million ringgit (approximately Rp44.9 billion) for digital platforms that violate the regulation.

According to a report from Engadget on Monday (1/6) local time, the Malaysian government has been developing this policy to restrict social media use for children since last year. The restrictions apply to social media platforms with more than eight million users in Malaysia. Under these rules, platform users are now required to undergo age verification to ensure they are at least 16 years old.

However, the government has provided a one-month transition period for users currently under the age of 16 to manage, download, or transfer their data before account access is restricted.

Clara Koh, Meta’s Director of Public Policy for Central Asia and ASEAN, criticised the policy, suggesting that such restrictions could potentially drive teenagers away from platforms with established oversight systems towards unregulated parts of the internet.

Malaysia is not the only Southeast Asian nation to implement age restrictions for social media. Indonesia had previously implemented similar regulations for users under the age of 16, which came into effect earlier this year. Globally, several other countries are also considering the development and implementation of policies to restrict children’s access to social media.