Malaysia pushes TikTok for age verification to protect minors

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia has urged the video-sharing platform TikTok to implement age verification for users after summoning the firm’s top management to demand faster action to curb harmful content.

The effect of social media on children’s mental health is a growing global concern; Australia last year banned children under 16 from using them.

Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said he was “very dissatisfied” with TikTok’s efforts to curb harmful content on its platform, but that it would be allowed to work with authorities to resolve the issue.

“There needs to be a mechanism for age verification … we leave it to TikTok as well as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and the police to study this,” he told reporters after meeting TikTok representatives at police headquarters.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fahmi said authorities would also summon representatives of X and Meta Platforms, the parent company of social media and messaging platforms Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, for similar discussions.

Malaysia has stepped up scrutiny of social media companies after finding a sharp rise in harmful online content.

Since January, a new law has required platforms and messaging services with more than 8 million users in Malaysia to obtain a license.

Fahmi said authorities would not hesitate to penalize companies if necessary.

Malaysia’s definition of harmful content includes online gambling, scams, child pornography and grooming, cyberbullying and content related to race, religion and royalty.

Britain has since July required pornography sites and other platforms hosting harmful content to verify users’ ages to prevent children from accessing them. France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Greece are jointly testing a template for an age verification app.