• Malaysia plans to require all social media platforms to ban users under age 13
• Singapore introduces bill to prevent online harm, establish commission empowered to issue directives addressing such harm

ISTANBUL

Malaysia is planning to take action to ban children under 13 from holding social media accounts, while a bill reached Singapore’s parliament on Wednesday seeking to establish a commission to remove harmful content from social media.

Kuala Lumpur is planning to require all social media platforms to implement identity verification to block users under 13.

Datuk Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysia’s communications minister, said Wednesday that the action aims to protect children online, ensure that community guidelines are properly enforced, as well as curb online scams and harmful content, according to the state-run Bernama news agency.

"When I met representatives from social media platforms last month, I made it clear that Malaysia will make identity verification mandatory, especially to prevent children under 13 from having accounts," he said, adding that the exact time of this requirement would be announced later.

Fahmi also said a meeting will be held next week with social media companies to discuss immediate steps towards implementing the requirement.

Separately, an online safety bill was introduced to Singapore’s parliament on Wednesday.

The bill "introduces new measures to strengthen online safety and protect Singaporeans from online harm, by empowering victims to seek timely relief and obtain redress," said a statement from the Law Ministry.

The bill would create a new online safety commission to manage a statutory reporting mechanism for victims, introduce statutory torts to lay a legal basis for victims to take legal action, as well as "enhance the accountability of perpetrators" through improved user identity information disclosure.

In a recent survey, 84% of Singaporeans said that they have encountered harmful online content, and 33% faced harmful online behavior in the past year, with sexual and violent content being the most common.

The legislation is set to tackle the problems of online harassment – including sexual harassment, doxxing, online stalking, image abuse, and image-based child abuse – by the end of first half 2026, while measures on issues such as online impersonation are set to be gradually implemented.

The commission will be empowered to issue directives to address online harm, such as ordering the harmful content be taken down, restricting online accounts, or allowing the victim to post a reply.

"Non-compliance with directions is a criminal offense," said the ministry, adding that in such cases, the commission may also take additional measures "such as issuing an access blocking order or app removal order, to put a stop to the online harm.”