Malaysia may use MyDigital ID, MyKad or passports for social media age verification
Malaysia is moving closer to introducing age verification for social media, with the government looking to prevent users aged 16 and below from having accounts. According to Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching, the age-check system is still being worked out, but possible verification methods include MyDigital ID, MyKad or passports.
Responding to questions in Parliament on whether the Communications Ministry plans to clean up existing social media accounts once the age verification system is in place, Teo said that the process will only be used to confirm a user’s age and won’t involve collecting personal details such as names or account ownership.
“After that, we will not collect information on who the account user is, who the account owner is, or what their name is… the process is only limited to age verification,” – Teo Nie Ching, Deputy Communications Ministe
She added that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is currently testing and assessing different age verification mechanisms as part of compliance requirements under the Online Safety Act 2025 (Act 866).
The assessment covers areas such as account security, data protection, privacy, technological accuracy and legal compliance. To do this, MCMC is working with social media platforms through a Regulatory Sandbox to test suitable technical approaches. Beyond age checks, the sandbox also looks at entity verification, the use of AI to detect risky content, and ways to improve complaint handling so reports can be dealt with more quickly.
Once the testing phase is completed, social media platforms themselves will be responsible for ensuring that users aged 16 and below are unable to access their services, as required under upcoming regulations.
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