KUALA LUMPUR — Social media platforms that fail to comply with age verification requirements under the Online Safety Act 2025 (Act 866) may face financial penalties of up to RM10 million, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission is empowered to issue notices of non-compliance if any application service provider fails to meet obligations under Part III of Act 866, Bernama reported.
Licensed providers who receive such notices are required either to pay the stipulated financial penalty or submit representations to the commission for review.
“For non-compliance with Part III of Act 866, licensed service providers may be subject to a financial penalty not exceeding RM10 million as provided under Section 39 of Act 866,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to an additional question from Syahredzan Johan (PH-Bangi) on measures to ensure social media companies comply with age verification requirements and the actions that would be taken if they fail to do so.
Fahmi stressed that MCMC has the authority to take action against licensed service providers that do not adhere to the obligations set out under the Act.
He added that Section 30 of Act 866 also empowers the commission to issue written directives to licensed providers regarding compliance with any provisions under the legislation.
“Failure to comply with issued directives constitutes an offence and, upon conviction in court, may result in a fine not exceeding RM1 million, as well as an additional fine not exceeding RM100,000 for each day the offence continues after conviction,” he said.
Fahmi also noted that the government has been engaging social media companies through a series of consultations since January under a regulatory sandbox framework to discuss the implementation of age verification mechanisms.
He said more than 30 engagement sessions have been conducted, both jointly and separately, with the platforms involved.
“Each platform has its own challenges and business objectives, but the government has set age verification requirements in line with practices implemented in more than 25 countries worldwide,” he said. — June 24, 2026