Deputy communications minister Teo Nie Ching said her ministry and MCMC were keen to collaborate with the health ministry as they lacked the expertise to deal with mental health issues, Bernama reported.

“On MCMC’s part, we can issue guidelines and regulate platform providers to create safer standards for users under 18 years old.

“However, for adult users, I believe the individuals should be held accountable for their own choices,” she said in reply to Azahar Hassan in the Dewan Negara.

Azahar wanted to know about the action taken by the communications ministry to tackle the issue of social media addiction and its negative repercussions on one’s behaviour, as well as mental and physical health.

Teo said MCMC is committed to raising awareness and educating the public on responsible and ethical use of social media, and that MCMC had organised training sessions for parents, guardians and educators to provide them with information on online child protection.

“They can then share this knowledge with children. They will also be able to raise children’s awareness about online safety and the need for balanced internet usage.”

She said MCMC also launched an online safety tour on Jan 21, which is made up of various programmes and activities aimed at raising online safety awareness.

She said these activities included talks, training and collaboration with social media influencers to promote safe and balanced internet use.

A 2022 study by McGill University in Canada on the level of addiction to smartphones found that Malaysians ranked third in the world. China topped the study, followed by Saudi Arabia.

The study, which ran from 2014 to 2020, was based on a sample audience of 35,000 young adults aged between 15 and 35 – with 5,000 of them from Malaysia.