Social media ban on children under 16 years of age, new rules increase tension for Meta and TikTok

Malaysia Social Media Rules: Many countries have taken strict steps for the online safety of children, now big and strict steps are being taken in Malaysia too. Let us tell you that new rules are going to be implemented in the country from June 1, under which it will not be easy for children below 16 years of age to create accounts on social media platforms. The government has generally said that it has now become necessary to protect children from the rapidly increasing dangerous and objectionable content on the Internet. In such a situation, it has also been seen that in the last few years, cases of cyber bullying, online fraud and inappropriate content related to children have increased significantly. After which now the government is going to work by putting the responsibility directly on the tech companies.

Social media companies will have to follow strict rules

According to the Communications and Multimedia Commission of Malaysia (MCMC), now after the introduction of the rules, social media companies will have to ensure that underage children cannot easily create accounts on their social media. Apart from this, the government has also asked companies to strengthen content moderation and has been advised to take swift action on complaints. Talking about the new rules, it has been said that the identity of the advertisers should also be checked properly.

In such a situation, if any content has been edited or tampered, it will be necessary to clearly label it. But now it has been told that other companies will also be given some time to implement the rules, the period of which has not been decided yet.

Age verification system may come soon

The government is also preparing to implement age verification system on all social media this year. Which simply means that social media platforms will be required to verify the age of users. But this step itself is being seen as the biggest challenge. In such a situation, if companies ask for identity card for verification, then questions can be raised on the privacy of the users. At the same time, experts are also concerned about the accuracy of third-party age verification tools. In such a situation, it would be quite interesting to know how the government manages to maintain a balance between security and privacy.

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Meta, TikTok and YouTube will be directly affected

These new rules coming in Malaysia are going to directly impact big tech companies like Meta, TikTok, YouTube and X. In such a situation, after the coming of the rules, these companies will now have to change their systems and policies in Malaysia. For your information, let us tell you that in many parts of Australia, France, Britain and America, strict rules have been made on the use of social media by children and now the discussion on this issue is going on in India too. In such a situation, regarding the changing rules for social media, experts believe that in the coming time, social media regulation can be made more strict across the world.