Falsifying child's age for social media registration an offence

SHAH ALAM - It is illegal for parents to create social media accounts for children under 13 by falsifying their age.

Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association (MCCA) president Siraj Jalil said this posed a significant challenge for the government in its bid to protect this age group from registering on social media platforms.

"A significant challenge for the government is that this issue has become normalised, not only among children under 13 but also among their parents.

"How many parents are creating social media accounts for their children, even though platform guidelines restrict accounts for those under 13?

"It means that there are those who falsifying a child's age to access social media. Ultimately, this is a responsibility for parents to address, not the government," he said.

Siraj said this during the Wacana Sinar 451 edition programme entitled "Selamatkah alam siber kita?" aired live on all Sinar Harian platforms, yesterday.

The programme was moderated by Ismail Adnan and included two other panellists who were Ledang MP Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh and Cybersecurity Responsive Services, CyberSecurity Malaysia vice president Mohd Zabri Adil Talib.

Commenting further, Siraj said while the use of social media by children fell under the national family policy, it was a significant responsibility for parents.

He said household control was inherently challenging, but the presence of legal regulations will raise awareness among parents.

He further highlighted that the current government was clearly committed to ensuring the safety of citizens in the country.

"The aspiration to regulate social media platforms is very challenging and not all countries are capable of implementing it," he added.