Quick facts
- Minimum age to register a social media account in Malaysia: 16, in force since 1 June 2026.
- How age is proved: government identification such as a MyKad, passport or birth certificate, or an equivalent recognised record.
- Covered services: the large licensed social media platforms, those with at least eight million registered users in Malaysia, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
- Penalty under the Online Safety Act 2025: up to RM10 million for failing the duties it places on licensed services.
- Now under study: extending age checks to online gaming.
Since 1 June 2026, the large social media platforms operating in Malaysia, those big enough to need an MCMC licence, with at least eight million registered users here, cannot let anyone under 16 register a new account. The requirement comes from the Child Protection Code, one of two codes the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) issued under the Online Safety Act 2025, the other being the Risk Mitigation Code. MCMC's own guidance states that from 1 June 2026 these platforms are required by law to verify user age, and to offer parental-control features for younger users. New sign-ups must be checked against records issued by the Government of Malaysia, such as a MyKad, passport or birth certificate, or an equivalent record from another recognised jurisdiction. It is a sharper turn in a year of hands-on digital rules, alongside our earlier reporting on Malaysia's work toward a binding AI law.
Existing accounts are the harder half. Under MCMC's code, providers must re-verify current users progressively over a period of up to six months, and an account identified as belonging to someone under 16 is then given one month to download or transfer its photos and videos before any restriction is imposed.
Checking a new sign-up at registration is one thing. Existing accounts are another matter, and some platforms lean on a quieter method called age inference: instead of asking, the system estimates how old a user is from signals already on the account, such as the kinds of things they have searched for. This is the platform's own technology, separate from the government's identity check. Google, expanding a global age-assurance programme it already runs elsewhere, said on 23 September it was bringing it to Malaysia, after earlier launches in Singapore and the United States. An account Google estimates belongs to someone under 18 has SafeSearch switched on by default, mature material blocked on Google Play and Gemini, personalised ads turned off and the location timeline in Maps disabled. The thresholds differ: Google's is a separate, global under-18 programme, while Malaysia's law sets the account age at 16.
There is a catch for adults, too. Google's estimate is built from a user's own Google activity, not from any government record, and if it is wrong, those same under-18 protections fall on an adult's account, from SafeSearch switched on by default to personalised ads switching off, until they verify their age with a government identification document or a selfie. For the platforms themselves, the stakes are real: under the Online Safety Act, a licensed provider that fails the duties the law places on it can face a penalty of up to RM10 million.
The reach may widen. On 19 October, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the government would study the feasibility of extending electronic know-your-customer and age verification to online gaming platforms, naming Roblox, citing underage users and the risk of games being abused by extremist, radical and terrorist groups to reach children. He framed it as a study rather than a decision, and said Roblox had shown it was ready to cooperate. Any such step would take mandatory age verification past social media, into accounts often held by children, set against Malaysia's fast-growing digital economy.
For now it stays at the study stage, with no gaming rule announced, while MCMC's maximum six-month period for platforms to verify existing accounts, which began on 1 June, runs to around 30 November.
