‘Too little, too late’: Why experts say social media giants are failing to protect Malaysian youth

Years of research have shown social media’s deleterious effects on youth mental health, fueling anxiety, depression, self-harm and even suicide. Australia was the first to ban social media access for under-16s. Indonesia soon followed suit, while France, the United Kingdom, Turkiye, Thailand and many other countries are in the process of implementing similar laws. These laws treat social media as an addictive substance, like cigarettes and alcohol, and therefore subject to age restrictions.

The move comes as tech companies face lawsuits and accusations of developing addictive features and failing to protect children’s safety online. In March, social media giant Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was found liable for not protecting its underage users against sexual predators and fined US$375 million (RM1.49 billion) in New Mexico in the United States.

Meta is facing 2,400 lawsuits related to social media addiction in the United States.

Malaysia has similar issues with its youth. Research by Mohamed Badawi, M. A. E. et al found that 73.71 per cent of students surveyed in Selangor had social media addiction. The study — “A Cross-Sectional Study on Social Media Addiction and its Relationship with Stress and Loneliness”, published in the Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine in 2024 — involved 350 respondents, all Malaysian university students studying in Selangor. It also found that 82.4 per cent of them had moderate stress, while 73.4 per cent felt lonely. 

Evidence

Policymakers argue that the restrictions under ONSA, which aim to prevent children under 18 from accessing social media, are needed as the scale and speed of social media are outpacing existing safeguards. But civil societies (CSOs) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) are not enthusiastic about legislation that bans children based on their age, saying it may restrict freedom of speech and social media benefits, such as forging friendships.

Unicef said in a statement that it may drive teens into less-regulated corners of the Internet. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), meanwhile, take issue with the e-KYC (electronic Know Your Customer) system for age-verification, which will remove anonymity and increase risks of data leaks and surveillance. 

In a statement, the CSOs also said the ban unfairly penalises children instead of holding social media companies accountable for exploitative algorithms and data collection practices, and may exclude marginalised communities.

Some NGOs suggested that Malaysia increase mental health resources and digital literacy training for teens, and shift accountability to tech companies instead.

For now, there is not much evidence for or against social media restrictions as such bans are still very new. Studies take time as society adjusts.  

But the arguably strongest evidence to support the ban on social media access for children lies in the anecdotal example of Greystones, a village of 22,000 people in Ireland. After the Covid-19 lockdown, when social media use spiked, children reported feeling anxiety and sought mental health services. As a response, community leaders came up with the “It Takes a Village” initiative in 2023, and got most of its residents to ban smartphones for their children until they entered secondary school, according to a New York Times report. 

Three years later, children and parents in Greystones reported being happier and better-adjusted. 

“The idea behind prohibiting children from having a social media account before turning 16 is to either prevent or delay these consequences until their brains are further developed,” said Harris Zainul, director of the Centre for Responsible Technology.

Whether Malaysia and other countries will reap the same benefits is still unknown, but one thing many experts are certain about is that some teenagers will be able to find a workaround to accessing social media when the ban comes into effect. 

“Our Gen Alpha (those born after 2010) is (growing up) with LLMs (Large Language Models), and ChatGPT and even Grok,” commented Dr Haezreena Begum Abdul Hamid, a criminologist and senior lecturer at Universiti Malaya.

“If (they) can’t do (get online), (they’ll) find alternative methods.”

In a survey done on 1,027 teens two months after Australia banned under-16s on social media in December last year, three out of four teens (73 per cent) reported they were still mostly able to access social media platforms. Of the 26 per cent who were affected by the ban, slightly more than half of this group said they were getting less news.  

Accountability

CSOs and experts have pointed out the need to hold social media companies accountable for their addictive features and designs, such as the endless scroll. The reason for the design is simple. The more time you spend online, the more opportunities advertisers have to reach you.

Due to many countries beginning to legislate and impose limits on social media platforms, some tech companies have implemented several safety features to limit endless scrolling.

TikTok, Instagram and other platforms currently allow users to set a daily limit for scrolling, but leave it up to users to enforce. In Malaysia, Meta recently rolled out accounts for 13- to 18-year-olds with stricter default settings, similar to cinema ratings, to protect them from inappropriate content and contact. 

“At Meta, keeping teens safe online is our top priority. We recently announced additional safety features for parents and teens in Malaysia,” said Clara Koh, Meta’s director of public policy for South-east Asia and Asean, during a media roundtable in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Some of the safety features include limiting who the teenager can follow by blocking any account that regularly posts age-inappropriate content. It will also block search terms related to sensitive topics like suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, even if misspelled. Meta said its artificial intelligence (AI) will not return any age-inappropriate responses either.

Teen accounts are also automatically set to private and have a sleep mode, so no notifications can get through. It also has an aggressive nudity filter, which means no inappropriate photos can be uploaded or downloaded. Meta representatives at the press briefing told Bernama the filter also applies to classic art pieces.

Harris, who is also the director of research at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, described the introduction of the features as “too little too late”.

“(This) was only rolled out globally in June 2025. This is despite internal documents reportedly showing the platform was prioritising growth and engagement metrics over child safety, despite being aware of the problem internally,” he said.

As ONSA, which came into force on January 1, 2026, applies to social media platforms, they do not have criminal penalties. However, platforms face up to RM10 million in civil penalties for non-compliance.

The tech industry is fighting back against attempts to regulate them. Some social media companies have threatened to pull out of specific markets, although many experts consider the threat largely empty. Since so many countries are mulling a similar set of restrictions, anywhere they operate will require social media companies to implement some form of restriction in the end.

Haezreena said should the companies concerned follow through and leave, it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

“All these platform providers don’t like it if it involves their business profits,” she said. 

“(If social media companies pull out) there will be a loss at first. You know, it may be a bit difficult, but then society will get used to it.” — Bernama 

[Source: Malay Mail]