Malaysia Sets Social Media Age Limit at 16

Malaysia has started enforcing a ban on social media accounts for children under 16, making it a bit harder to lie about your birth year. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube now have to verify user ages using government IDs like MyKad or passports.

What Happened

Two new codes under Malaysia's Online Safety Act 2025 took effect: the Child Protection Code and the Risk Mitigation Code. Under both codes:

Users under 16 cannot create or own their own social media accounts on platforms with over 8 million users, and new users have to verify their age using MyKad (Malaysia's national ID), passport, or MyDigital ID.

For existing users under 16 it's a bit different. There's a grace period of 6 months for platforms to introduce age verification. Once verified as under 16, users get 1 month to download photos, videos, everything, before their account is restricted.

Under-16s can still access social media through parents'/guardians' phones. There's no penalty as long as access is supervised.

Ads?

Ads get rules too. To run sponsored ads on socials, you have to verify your identity. Why? Scam ads, digital gambling ads, fake celebrity endorsement scams, basically online fraud. With IDs linked to a verified user, those could be easier to catch.

There are fines of up to 10 million ringgit (~$2.5 million USD) for platforms that break the rules.

Who's Next?

Age-verification laws are rolling out more frequently now. Indonesia was March, Turkey April, Brazil is warming up, Denmark plans to ban under 15s, Spain under 16s, plus criminal liability for illegal content. Lots more in the works.

Probably Denmark soon. Wanna bet?