Ura-ura Malaysia will require operators of social media platforms to have a license to operate since September last year. Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said at the time it was still being considered but in December the framework for licensing had started to be prepared by SKMM.
Yesterday The Straits Times published a report that the cabinet had agreed to enforce licensing on all social media platforms in Malaysia last April. It was supposed to start next July but was delayed to gather feedback from industry players.
While rumors began to be heard last year, licensing was to be enforced to enable revenue sharing with local media operators. It now also includes controls on what content is allowed and a mechanism to delete it.
This is similar to what is done in Singapore. In Indonesia, not only social media but digital platforms such as Steam and PayPal require a license to operate. If it fails, the service will be blocked.
Some see this as a government effort to curb freedom of expression as has happened several times on Facebook and X/Twitter this year. But at the same time social media platforms are still lax in ensuring that sensitive content is not uploaded repeatedly without any action.