Malaysia could soon be moving towards a much more restricted social media landscape with the introduction of a licensing programme. While it was initially mooted as a way for local content producers to gain revenue from social media platform operators, stakeholders who attended several meetings with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) paint a more worrying picture.
According to a report by The Straits Times, industry and civil society representatives who attended the meetings said that mentions of the digital revenue-sharing idea were scarce. Instead, the proposals by the internet regulator include pre-emptive action to prevent offences, a kill switch for content deemed egregious, forced auditing of licensees’ content moderation and algorithm processes, and the requirement to have a local entity in Malaysia that would be subjected to local laws — similar to what Russia implement a couple of years ago.
These ideas were apparently met with a lot of pushback from platform owners as well as civil society. However, as one insider put it, “It seemed less an engagement session than a briefing to tell us their plans, which on the face of it widen the potential for abuse.”
The report states that the Malaysian Cabinet approved the licensing proposal back in April and that it was initially slated to be announced by July 2024, but the timeline has likely been pushed back due to feedback from stakeholders. “Furthermore, it will take time for the biggest players, especially those without an official presence in Malaysia, to set up shop. We are talking months here,” said an industry executive who attended the briefings.
While an online safety bill would require parliamentary approval, the report claims that introducing licences for social media and messaging apps will require only the communications minister’s signature to remove certain exemptions under an executive order from 2000, without the need for parliamentary debate.
In response to these figures, the MCMC denied being used as a tool to silence criticisms against the government. It explained that 72% of its content removal requests involved online gambling and scams, while 15% were identified as fake news, 6% were related to race, religion, and royalty, and 5% involved harassment.
(Source: The Straits Times)
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