Following recent tragedies in schools, the Malaysian government is mulling a social media ban for youths below 16 years old. There are even suggestions about making eKYC verification mandatory for social media accounts and to ban smartphone use for those under 16 years old.
Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, has cautioned that the move to impose higher age restrictions on social media could be counterproductive.
As reported by NST, Meta’s Southeast Asia public policy director Dr Rafael Frankel said that bans on social media use may push minors towards less safe online spaces.
Social Media bans may force teens to use unsafe platforms
He added that efforts should be looked at ensuring online youth safety beyond social media platforms and it should cover the entire digital ecosystem which includes games, educational applications and video platforms.
As quoted by NST, he said, “Now, if you ban social media for teens, where are they going to go? They are going to go to places like games that are far less safe, that have far less controls. They are not going to just get offline.”
He also said that teens may turn to other platforms that are not as well moderated or lack safety measures. As a result, strangers could contact them and engage in unsafe conversations without any parental supervision.
The Meta spokesperson also said that Meta has taken down 12 million accounts originating from scam centres operating in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines and UAE in the first half of the year.
He also shared that 157 million ads violating Meta’s fraud and scam-related policies were removed in 2024 and 90% of them were taken down before users reported them.
Frankel also added that fighting scams require collaboration between multiple stakeholders, including digital platforms, financial institutions, telcos, governments, law enforcement and civil society.
Meta still operating without a licence in Malaysia?
At the time of writing, it appears that Meta has yet to obtain the required ASP licence under the current Social Media Regulation. There were no results found for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp under MCMC’s ASP register.
Under the regulation, it is illegal for social media platforms with 8 million Malaysian users to operate without the required ASP licence. The licensing requirement is aimed at ensuring a safer online environment for Malaysians and to hold platforms accountable towards online harms including sexual crimes against children and financial scams.
Based on our recent search, only TikTok, WeChat and Telegram have obtained the required licence under the latest regulation.
According to the MCMC, appropriate action under Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 Section 126 will be taken against any applicable service providers that continue to operate without a licence from 1st January 2025.
If convicted, the service provider can be fined up to RM500,000, or face imprisonment up to 5 years, or both. The platforms can be liable for a further fine of RM1,000 for every day during which the offence is continued after conviction.
It is also worth highlighting that Meta has repeated allowed scam ads on its platform which could have been avoided with basic due diligence. The platform has allowed scammers to run scam ads impersonating public figures including the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and other prominent business individuals.
It’s already more than 10 months since the Social Media Regulation was enforced, but we have yet to see any serious action taken by the Malaysian government against Meta for its failure to comply. It also raises the question of whether or not Meta would be wiling to comply with the age check implementation since their platforms are operating without a licence in Malaysia.
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