Fahmi, who was speaking to the media at the end of a three-day working visit here, said the officials of various social media platforms he met acknowledged the need to comply with Malaysian laws and expressed their willingness to participate in the licensing process.
“My meetings with (the officials of) the social media platforms have been very productive. They acknowledged that Malaysia is an important market for their respective platforms,” he told Bernama and Nikkei Asia.
“I’m happy to say that all of them are prepared to come on board.”
Fahmi met with officials from various social media platforms, such as Meta, Google, TikTok and Tencent, to update them on the new regulatory framework and discuss online security as well as potential collaborations to combat illegal activities.
The minister said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) would be publishing FAQs (frequently asked questions) on Aug 1 that would provide more details about the framework and the licensing mechanism.
It will also conduct a series of public engagements from Aug 1 to Jan 1 next year to create a code of conduct that will serve as a reference for licensees under the framework.
Prior to this, Fahmi said, MCMC conducted engagements with social media platforms from February to March this year to get their feedback on the regulatory framework.
Last Saturday, MCMC said it would introduce a new regulatory framework for safe internet use by children and families on Aug 1, with the implementation set for Jan 1 next year.
Under the new framework, social media and internet messaging services with at least eight million registered users in Malaysia must apply for an application service provider class licence under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588).
Fahmi said the issue of non-compliance was also raised during the meeting.
“We understand their business and regulatory processes, their community guidelines, and community standards,” he said.
“We also hope they will understand the kind of expectations that we have of them. We hope to meet (them) in the middle, and I believe this can be done.”
Last week, Fahmi said MCMC’s monitoring found varying levels of compliance with Malaysian laws among the platforms.
Fahmi said Instagram recorded a compliance rate of 88%, followed by Facebook (85%), WhatsApp (79%), TikTok (76%), Telegram (65%) and X, with the lowest compliance rate at 25%.