Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission had been instructed to engage with all social media platforms and give them a reasonable period to adopt the measure.

“This reasonable timeframe takes into account what has been successfully implemented in other countries, including Australia.

“If platforms can adopt similar or nearly similar mechanisms, it may ease or speed up implementation,” Bernama reported him as saying today.

Fahmi said such mechanisms would include processes to freeze accounts belonging to children under 16, as well as procedures to restore access once they reach the required age.

He said this would involve the use of documents such as passports, MyKad and MyDigital ID to verify users’ identities.

“This is important not only to prevent children under 16 from using social media platforms but also to combat scams and online gambling activities.

“Many scammers and illegal gambling operators use fake accounts. So we intend to introduce eKYC to verify identities,” he said.