Murray Hunter
Malaysiakini: Report: Cabinet approves plans to license, regulate social media
JUN 24, 2024
The government’s plan to get social media platforms licensed in Malaysia is reportedly in the final stages and has received the nod from the cabinet.
This reportedly includes imposing a content code on such platforms that would also have regulations regarding political content.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil first announced the regulation plans in Nov 2023, saying there was a need for social media platforms to understand and conform to local laws.
The Strait Times, citing sources, said the cabinet had since approved the licensing requirement in April.
However, a purported July announcement will reportedly be pushed back pending feedback from industry players.
The report quoted an unnamed industry executive as saying it would also take months for major platforms to officially set up operations in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, other sources cited in the report said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had made several proposals on content regulation during briefing sessions they attended.
This included proposed pre-emptive action to prevent offences, which platform owners and civil society groups both opposed.
Other proposals included requiring platforms to open up their content moderation and algorithms to be subject to audits, as well as a kill switch to remove objectionable content.
At present, the MCMC already issues take-down notices to social media platforms.
In the case of Facebook, posts that are flagged by the MCMC but do not violate the platform’s own rules are restricted from Malaysian audiences.
Meanwhile, TikTok revealed in a report that between June and Dec 2023, the Malaysian government made the highest number of takedown requests to the platform.
Malaysia made 1,862 requests, followed by Australia’s 651.
The MCMC had defended its actions last December, saying it was meant to protect social media users.
It said that 70 percent of over 25,000 take-down requests it made in 2023 were against scams and online gambling.
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