Malaysia's under-16 social media ban carries fines up to $2.5 million - Engadget

The ban is now in effect but the enforcement rollout is happening over the next six months. Malaysia's social media ban for anyone under 16 officially went into effect today. The country has been working to restrict social media usage for kids since last year and eventually approved a ban that affects any platform with more than eight million users in Malaysia. While we knew the ban was set to go into effect June 6, the Malaysian government revealed that companies found breaking the new rules could face fines up to 10 million ringgit, or $2.5 million. For reference, Meta, one of the companies affected by the ban, reported more than $56.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026. With the ban becoming official, any Malaysian resident with an account on an affected social media platform will soon have to verify that they're older than 16. Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Commission said this age verification process will roll out over a six-month period. While the ban bars anyone under 16 from creating a new account, the government is allowing any existing underage users a month to manage, download or transfer any of their data before their account gets restricted. Cla