Kuala lumpur: The government anticipates finalising the age verification mechanism for social media users through subsidiary legislation under the Online Safety Act (ONSA) 2025 in the second quarter of this year, Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching announced. This mechanism is part of efforts to safeguard children and teenagers from harmful online content following the enforcement of the Act on January 1.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is currently evaluating age and identity verification mechanisms, focusing on account security, personal data protection, privacy, and alignment with the existing legal framework. MCMC is also conducting a Regulatory Sandbox process with social media platform providers to assess suitable technological approaches.
Teo's comments were in response to Senator Norhasmimi Abdul Ghani's inquiry about the status of proposals to impose stricter restrictions on social media access for children under 16 to address mental health concerns. The assessment includes testing age verification, entity validation mechanisms, and using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect high-risk content.
Once the assessment and Regulatory Sandbox process are complete, platform providers will be responsible for ensuring users aged 16 and below do not operate social media accounts, as outlined in subsidiary legislation pursuant to Act 866. Non-compliance could lead to financial penalties of up to RM10 million. This initiative aims to ensure social media algorithms are suitable for young users and prevent exposure to negative content, including cyberbullying and sexual harassment.
In response to a supplementary question from Senator Tiew Way Keng, Teo disclosed that from January 1, 2022, to February 15 this year, 1,578 requests were made to service providers for the removal of extremely offensive content involving children, with a 96 per cent success rate. To further enhance digital safety, the MCMC has initiated a public consultation from February 12 to develop a Risk Reduction Code and a Child Protection Code, expected to be finalised after March 13. Compliance with these codes will be mandatory for platform providers to make their algorithms safer and establish more effective complaint mechanisms.