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Malaysia has introduced mandatory identity verification for social media advertisers as part of a wider effort to curb illegal online gambling, financial scams, and the misuse of public figures in fraudulent promotions. The new rules took effect on Monday and placed fresh compliance requirements on major platforms operating in the country.
New Rules For Advertisers
Under the measure, individuals and businesses that place sponsored advertisements on major social media platforms must verify their identities before their content can be published. The rule applies to licensed platforms with more than 8 million users in Malaysia and forms part of the Risk Mitigation Code under the country’s Online Safety Act 2025.
Teo Nie Ching, deputy communications minister of Malaysia, says the new regulations seek to curb a major loophole that was being exploited where advertising via anonymous profiles was used as a way to promote scam sites and illegal gambling webpages. Authorities found it extremely difficult to determine the identities of persons or institutions behind advertisements made via fake accounts or even using photographs of known personalities without their consent.
Enforcement on Harmful Content
With this new framework, advertisers will be required to present proof of their legitimacy prior to purchasing sponsored listings, giving regulators and platform managers greater access to information on which individuals can be held accountable for their actions. The reason why Malaysia has come up with this new regulation is that all forms of gambling through social media are banned in Malaysia, with some exceptions.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission is currently dealing with these issues. According to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, there was an immense number of online content removed by the regulator from January onwards, and a considerable percentage of it contained either scams or betting.
Platform Accountability In Focus
The Malaysian government has been stepping up its pressure on social media companies to increase its involvement in controlling malicious online content. According to regulatory bodies, stronger accountability from the platforms is necessary in order to prevent any exploitation of digital advertising infrastructure by illegal groups.
The Online Safety Act 2025 is part of a wider governmental effort to increase oversight over the online space, protect users through better safeguards, and enforce existing prohibitions of illegal activity in the realm of the Internet, and the recently introduced identification verification rules represent yet another measure focused not on taking down the published malicious material but on preventing its publication in the first place.
Broader Efforts to Curb Online Gambling
The newly imposed control rules are in line with the recent trend of increased oversight of all such online channels, through which fraudulent gambling offers and other forms of scams are rapidly disseminated. In requiring advertisers to undergo verification before they publish their content, the authorities intend to block anonymous parties from using social media sites as promotion platforms.
Source: Asia Gaming Brief
