Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said the move is aimed at protecting children online and ensuring that community guidelines set by the platforms are properly enforced.

“When I met representatives from social media platforms last month, I made it clear that Malaysia will make identity verification mandatory, especially to prevent children below 13 from having accounts.

“I will present the exact timeline to the Cabinet before making an announcement,” Bernama reported him as saying in Sindumin, Sabah, today.

Fahmi said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission would hold a meeting with social media companies next week to discuss immediate steps towards implementing the requirement.

He said e-KYC was crucial to curb online scams and harmful content such as gambling and fake advertisements.

“Many platforms have been misused by criminals for scams. As I mentioned in Parliament yesterday, 78% of all scam-related content taken down were on Facebook,” he said.