PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will proceed with the licensing requirement for social media and instant messaging platforms as scheduled from Jan 1.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the matter was discussed during the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today.
"The prime minister said we will proceed with the implementation of the regulatory framework.
"It involves two types of services; social media and instant messaging platforms. It does not include any other applications.
"Therefore, the timeline remains unchanged, with the licensing for social media and internet messaging systems starting on Jan 1. There will be no shifts or changes to this date," the government spokesman said in his weekly post-cabinet press briefing.
This comes despite pushback from the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), an organisation representing technology giants like Meta, Apple, Amazon, Google, Yahoo, X and LinkedIn.
In an open letter to Anwar, AIC had urged the government to pause the new framework and to carefully consider how this upcoming licensing regime aligns with its broader economic goals before proceeding further.