Malaysia is now the latest country to reportedly consider banning social media use by users under the age of 16 due to concerns about child safety.

According to a Reuters report, Malaysia communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said the government is looking at other countries, including Australia, to see how they are imposing age restrictions on the use of social media platforms, as it plans to impose a new ban from 2026.

In a video posted online by local daily The Star, Fadzil added that new measures are necessary to protect young people from online dangers such as cyberbullying, financial scams, and child sexual abuse.

"We hope by next year that social media platforms will comply with the government's decision to bar those under the age of 16 from opening user accounts," he said in the video.

The decision comes less than three weeks before a similar ban in Australia comes into force. Approved in November 2024, the law will prohibit children under the age of 16 from using social media.

The new law will require tech giants including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and X to restrict underage access or face penalties of up to $50 million (AUD).

Last week, Julie Inman Grant, commissioner at eSafety, an independent government agency responsible for regulating online safety in Australia, said Twitch will join Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and others on the list of social media sites with age restrictions.

"Twitch is a platform most commonly used for live streaming or posting content that enables users, including Australian children, to interact with others in relation to the content posted," the organisation said in a statement on its website.

The list of platforms banned for under 16s currently includes Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Kick and Twitch.

Malaysia has already tightened restrictions on social media companies, subjecting them to stricter controls with the aim of reducing harmful content such as online gambling and posts related to race, religion and the monarchy.

A new law, which will come into effect in January, will require messaging platforms and services with more than eight million users in Malaysia to obtain a licence, ensuring that they regulate their services to protect users from online harms such as scams, child exploitation, gambling, bullying and harassment.

Indonesia, which borders Malaysia, said in January that it wanted to set a minimum age for social media users. The law currently in force only requires platforms to filter negative content and apply stricter age verification measures.

Earlier this year, the European Commission also launched a pilot project in which France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Greece will jointly test a privacy-friendly age verification application.

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