Social media giants Meta, X, and Google have yet to get application service provider (ASP) class licences for their platforms. This is according to communications minister Fahmi Fadzil, who explained that each of the three companies had concerns or issues to be resolved before obtaining the licence.
Fahmi said Meta wanted to meet the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) before finalising its application. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s X is arguing that it does not have enough Malaysian users to need a social media licence. For context, the licence is mandatory for any social media platform with at least eight million users in the country.
The minister stated that the government is giving some leeway to X for now, but it will set an undisclosed final deadline for all platforms to obtain the licence soon. “Regardless of the issue or concern, this must come to an end,” he said.
Currently, the only social media platforms that have been licensed are TikTok, WeChat, and Telegram. Fahmi has previously said that the government is currently reviewing whether or not LinkedIn has passed the threshold of eight million users to decide if it needs to apply for the licence.
(Source: The Star)
