Starting today, 1 August 2024, companies that operate social media platforms and also online messaging such as Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram), Telegram, TikTok and so on need to register for a license to operate social media platforms in Malaysia, before the requirement is gazetted as mandatory starting January 1, 2025.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has today revealed details of the Regulatory Framework and said that the requirement is based on issues of exploitation that often occur on messaging platforms and social media.
For messaging and social media platforms that have more than 8 million users in Malaysia, they are now required to register for an Application Service Provider Class (APS C) license. According to SKMM, this license is only mandatory for messaging service providers and also social media platforms such as X/Twitter, Meta, TikTok, Telegram, WeChat and YouTube. Online stores such as Shopee, Lazada and others are not bound by this new law.
This regulatory framework will ensure Internet messaging and social media service providers are held accountable to better manage their operations in Malaysia including effectively dealing with harmful content, in addition to strengthening their systems and processes in reducing cybercrime on their platforms. This also indirectly makes this social media platform more responsible in offering services and content through it.
The criteria introduced to register this Application Service Provider Class license are as follows:
Licensing registration fee RM2,500
Licensing applications are made by companies incorporated in Malaysia
Document submission based on the Class License application checklist
Additional details on the registration of these companies can be viewed through the SKMM Licensing Guide website. This license also needs to be renewed every year, as long as the criteria of 8 million users is met by these companies.
When asked how the MCMC will determine the number of Malaysian users on these platforms, they said that they will use data from their own official surveys such as the MCMC Internet User Survey. Other publicly available and reliable data will also be taken into account to determine the number of users on these platforms.
Messaging and social media platforms that operate without a license from 1 January 2025 can be fined not more than RM500,000 and can be fined a further RM1000 per day for each day the platform operates without a license after conviction.
For service providers who violate license conditions and conduct requirements, the MCMC can take actions including administrative warnings, issuance of compliance orders to correct violations, imposing civil penalties or compounding offenses in dealing with these violations in a proportionate manner.
For more serious offences, the MCMC can also block direct access to the platform, withdraw the APS (C) license and also start the prosecution process against the company.
According to the ECPAT report by UNICEF in 2022, as many as 100 thousand children in Malaysia are at risk of online sexual exploitation. Another report by UNODC said that suspicious transaction reports (Suspicious Transaction Reports) increased from 2019 to 2022 as much as double to 42 thousand reports. The value of transactions that took place according to this report increased up to RM26 billion in the same period.
Incidents of online bullying and fraud have also increased dramatically. According to SKMM, a total of 9483 cases of online bullying have been reported from January 2022 until July 2024. Meanwhile, online fraud cases in Malaysia have doubled from 17,688 cases in 2019 to 34,495 cases in 2023.
Because of this, the MCMC has conducted engagement sessions with service providers, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations and law enforcement agencies from January 2024 until July 2024 before making the decision to introduce the Application Service Provider Class license (APS C) this.