Malaysia plans to ban social media for users under the age of 16 starting from next year, joining a growing list of countries choosing to limit access to digital platforms due to concerns about child safety.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said on Sunday the government was reviewing mechanisms used to impose age restrictions for social media use in Australia and other nations, citing a need to protect youths from online harms such as cyberbullying, financial scams and child sexual abuse.
“We hope by next year that social media platforms will comply with the government’s decision to bar those under the age of 16 from opening user accounts,” he told reporters, according to a video of his remarks posted online by local daily The Star.
This isn’t very clever. Kids (or at least teens) will find a way around this. If you want proof, look no further than the UK, where everyone and their mother started using VPNs after the new “child safety” regulations started taking effect. It’s also very unlikely that the rules will be well-written. I don’t know anything about the Malaysian government, but I doubt that they are very tech-literate.