Malaysia and Singapore are planning to take serious action against harmful online content targeting children, with Kuala Lumpar set to ban under thirteens from social media altogether.
Kuala Lumpur has announced plans to require all social media platforms to implement identity verification to block users under 13 from holding accounts.
Datuk Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysia’s communications minister, said on 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.
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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 behaviour 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 offence,” 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.”
The developments comes as Malaysian police blamed social media after a 14-year-old boy stabbed a 16-year-old school student to death, sparking national outrage and calls for tighter online controls.
Dangers children face online
In June 2025, ITV reported that the proportion of children saying they have seen pornography online has risen in the past two years, with those as young as six seeing it by accident.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said her research is evidence that harmful content is being presented to children through dangerous algorithms, rather than them seeking it out.
She described the content young people are seeing as “violent, extreme and degrading” and often illegal, and said her office’s findings must be seen as a “snapshot of what rock bottom looks like.”
Also in 2024, online grooming crimes against children increased by 89% over the past six years according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
Online grooming crimes have reached record levels across the UK, with offences topping 7,000 for the first time, new data we’ve compiled reveals.
The figures, provided by 45 UK police forces, show 7,062 Sexual Communication with a Child offences were recorded in 2023/24 – up 89% since 2017/18 when the offence first came into force.
Harmful content for children can also be found on X and Tiktok.
