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The government aims to enforce the minimum age requirement of 16 for social media users as early as July, said Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching
According to the New Straits Times, Teo said the initiative, aimed at protecting children from online exploitation and inappropriate content, is still in its regulatory sandbox phase.
This allows authorities to test and refine implementation methods before full enforcement.
The move falls under the Online Safety Act and involves ongoing discussions with social media platform providers to determine the most effective approach to age verification
"Under the Online Safety Act, we have begun discussions with platform providers. We are now in the regulatory sandbox stage to identify the best, most effective, and safest way to conduct age verification," Teo said, adding that talks and planning are still underway.
She noted that the government is targeting implementation in the second half of the year, as previously announced by Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil.
The government is reportedly aiming for all social media platforms to adopt digital user identity verification called Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) by the end of the second quarter of 2026 to ensure compliance with the minimum age requirement for account registration.
