Social Media Licensing To Continue Despite Pushback Fahmi

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Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the government will proceed with implementing a regulatory framework to license social media and internet messaging services, despite objections from the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC).
He pointed out that the AIC does not represent all social media platforms involved, only several companies.
“It’s clear they don’t represent all platforms but only a number of (companies).
“In discussions with company representatives when we met in Singapore (previously), they gave positive reactions and I stand by that position.
“No, we will not postpone the framework,” he said at a press conference during a meet and greet with the Orang Asli community of Kampung Kelinsing in Sepang today.
His remarks came after the AIC issued a letter dated Aug 23 containing a list of 17 member companies objecting to the government’s plans to license social media platforms.
It issued a second version of the letter dated Aug 26 that only contained six companies for “industry representation” - Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, LinkedIn, and X, and the coalition’s protest of the government’s plans to license social media was refined compared to its original version.
The AIC later issued a third letter - also dated Aug 26 - further reducing the number of companies represented to zero, but made no other changes to the letter’s contents.
Previously, AIC described the licensing as “impractical” before changing the phrase to say it would “negatively impact innovation”.
Additionally, the letter eliminated the statement mentioning that due to lack of consultation, “no platform can be expected to register under these conditions”.
‘Rather strange’ letters
Commenting on this, Fahmi said his ministry will leave it to the AIC to address the three letters sent to the prime minister concerning the government’s plans.
“It’s rather strange and even odd that Grab issued a statement saying they are not involved and that the matter wasn’t discussed. So we leave it to AIC to answer.
“One of the 17 companies in the first letter, Fedex, is already licensed through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
“This means there is a regulatory framework and I was informed that MCMC met with AIC last May and they asked for a month to provide feedback, but they have requested extensions not once but several times until they gave that letter,” he explained.
Still room for discussion
The Lembah Pantai MP added that the government remains open and provides space for further discussions regarding the social media regulatory plans.
Fahmi said that perhaps the AIC has not yet been briefed on the timeline set by MCMC, hence there is still room for discussion.
“The government still maintains that social media platforms and internet messaging systems need to be subjected to a regulatory framework to ensure a safer internet for all.
“We have examined all aspects, in Singapore (previously) the companies said they were ready to have discussions. We will continue the discussions.”
Fahmi also emphasised that if the companies involved want to operate in this country, they need to respect and comply with its laws. - Mkini

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