Malaysia says Facebook, X, TikTok must get licences, NST reports

MALAYSIA has identified eight social media and online messaging platforms that will be required to obtain a licence by next year, even as the government faces resistance to its plans to regulate the industry, the New Straits Times reported.

The platforms include Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram; Elon Musk’s X; Google’s YouTube; Pavel Durov’s Telegram; Tencent Holdings’ WeChat; and ByteDance’s TikTok, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said in an interview with the Malaysian newspaper.

From next year, any major messaging and social media service provider operating without a licence from the government will face legal action. The move is meant to combat rising cases of cybercrime, including online fraud and gambling, as well as cyberbullying and sexual crimes against children, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

Some platforms have pushed back, citing reasons such as concerns over stifling innovation and the challenges of establishing a local office, the minister was cited as saying. The government is standing firm by its decision, according to the report.

The platforms had met the threshold of at least eight million users in Malaysia and were not being specifically targeted, Fahmi said. The ministry was currently engaging with the platforms, according to the report.

Given the profits these platforms made and the significance of the Malaysian market, they should comply with local laws, Fahmi was cited as saying. For example, Meta earned about RM2.5 billion (S$754 million) annually from the Malaysian market through advertising, according to the report. BLOOMBERG