The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission today announced that 2 social media platforms have successfully obtained licenses for social media services. The two platforms in question are Bytedance (TikTok) for social media platforms, while Tencent (WeChat) for messaging services.
In addition to these two platforms, according to MCMC, Telegram is currently in the final phase of the licensing process, and is expected to receive their license in the near future. As for Meta, they have begun their licensing process. Meta is a social service provider for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
MCMC said that X and Google (YouTube) have not yet begun any licensing process. X said that they have less than 8 million users and are not subject to this requirement. Google, on the other hand, raised several issues related to the Licensing Framework and YouTube's position as a video sharing platform.
MCMC emphasized that this licensing requirement is in an effort to improve online safety, while ensuring that social platforms are more responsible in the operations and content through their platforms.