KUALA LUMPUR: Up to 13.8 million Malaysians in the country utilised the social messaging platform WhatsApp, according to the Department of Statistics MyCensus 2020: Population Wellbeing (Social Relations).
This was followed by 12.3 million people who are on Facebook followed by 6.3 million on Instagram, 3.7 per cent on Telegram, 1.9 million on X (formerly Twitter) and 0.8 million on LinkedIn.
These numbers were derived from MyCensus 2020 on which social media platforms, namely Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and Telegram, were used by 24.7 million Malaysians aged 15 and above.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said 16 million people responded to having social media accounts, irrespective of the number of accounts they held.
WhatsApp, he said, was more commonly used among those aged from 15 to 65 years and over, and ethnic groups.
"About a third of Whatsapp users reside in three states namely Selangor with 14.1 per cent, Johor with 13.1 per cent and 9.5 per cent in Perak.
"The similar states also have the most users for Facebook, Instagram and Telegram.
"Majority of X users were in developed states of Selangor, Johor and Kuala Lumpur while LinkedIn users were more predominantly in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
"At district level, Johor Baru has the highest number of WhatsApp and Facebook users with 695,998 and 626,166 users respectively.
"Petaling in Selangor has the highest number of Instagram users with 354,211 and X with 128,354," he added.
Uzir said females were more likely to use Instagram at 52.9 per cent followed by X with 52.1 per cent and Telegram with 51.9 per cent.
Males, he said, outnumbered females on Facebook with 51.5 per cent, followed by WhatsApp with 51.6 per cent and 51.9 per cent on LinkedIn.
On Internet access, 11.8 million Malaysians use their smartphones as the primary means of Internet access followed by home Internet with 5.3 million.
Some 2.6 million people's main Internet accessibility was at the workplace; 0.8 million people used free Internet access facilities while 0.7 million people went online at education centres.
The census found 0.5 million persons as well as 0.4 million others accessed the Internet from other people's homes; and from the community Internet access facilities.
Uzir said 34.3 per cent of mobile data users were in Johor with 12.4 per cent, Selangor with 11.7 per cent and Perak with 10.3 per cent.
"Johor Baru; Petaling and Kinta (in Perak) recorded the highest proportion of mobile data users.
"Meanwhile, Johor Baru, Petaling and Hulu Langat topped for the remaining mode of access to the Internet," he said.
Males, he said, were primarily the main users of Internet access by mobile data with 6.1 million people, while females used more home Internet access with 2.7 million users and education centres with 0.4 million.
A total of 13.6 million respondents aged 15 and above took part in the MyCensus 2020 on the seven means of Internet access.