THE Communications Ministry is considering a proposal to not allow children under 13 to have social media accounts.
Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said that digital literacy modules will be given to those aged 13 and above so that they understand the complexity of the information available.
"If you met with any group of students under 13 and asked if they had a TikTok account, many would say yes.
"This is actually a mistake that TikTok itself has admitted. So we are looking into it, one of the ways is that those under 13 not be allowed to have social media accounts," he told the Dewan Rakyat.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Mumtaz Md Nawi (PN-Tumpat) regarding the proposal to create a special policy for the well-being of children, especially involving online content.
Fahmi also informed that 1,443 pieces of obscene and extremely obscene content involving children were taken down by service providers following an application from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
According to him, the action was taken due to violations of the provisions of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588) as well as the community guidelines for platform providers.
"As the regulatory body for the communications and multimedia industry, MCMC takes a comprehensive approach to ensure that harmful content is controlled and prevented.
"Among the regulatory measures that have been and are being implemented are ongoing engagement sessions with platform service providers such as YouTube and TikTok to ensure that they are more transparent and in line with local regulatory requirements.
"This includes the need to limit users' exposure to negative or harmful content," he said. - July 29, 2025
