KUALA LUMPUR: Tech companies must comply with local laws to continue operating in Malaysia, a minister said on Tuesday, after an industry group urged the government to pause a plan to require social media platforms to apply for a regulatory license.
The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) — whose members include Google, Meta and X — had made the call in an open letter to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, citing a lack of clarity over the proposed regulations.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the government was ready to discuss the proposed regulations with the AIC and other industry groups but had no plans to delay their implementation, aimed at tackling rising cybercrime.
Under the plan, social media platforms and messaging services with more than eight million users would be required to obtain a license and could face legal action if they failed to do so by Jan. 1, 2025.
“Big tech companies are big but our laws are bigger. If they want to operate in Malaysia, they must respect and comply with our laws,” Fahmi told reporters, adding earlier talks with representatives of social media firms on the plan had been positive.
The AIC letter, originally dated Aug. 23, was taken down from its website late on Monday. Ride-hailing firm Grab, also a member of the group, said separately on the same day that it had not been consulted on the letter’s contents.
A new version of the letter, dated Aug. 26, was later posted to AIC’s website with several sentences removed, including a reference to the government’s plan being “unworkable” for the industry.
The letter also removed a list of the AIC’s member companies, which remains available on the group’s website.
In a statement on Tuesday, Malaysia’s communications regulator said it would conduct a public inquiry and was seeking feedback on the regulation from industry players and the public.
In its letter, the AIC had said an absence of formal public consultations had led to industry uncertainty and concerns over potential unintended consequences from the regulatory license.
Tech firms must comply with Malaysia’s laws, minister says, amid backlash over social media licensing plan
https://arab.news/4vtt7
Tech firms must comply with Malaysia’s laws, minister says, amid backlash over social media licensing plan
- Government set to move forward with regulation despite request to pause on plan to license social media firms
- Google, Meta and X says proposed regulations lack clarity
China’s national security agency in Hong Kong summons international media representatives
HONG KONG: China’s national security agency in Hong Kong summoned international media representatives for a “regulatory talk” on Saturday, saying some had spread false information and smeared the government in recent reports on a deadly fire and upcoming legislative elections.
Senior journalists from several major outlets operating in the city, including AFP, were summoned to the meeting by the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS), which was opened in 2020 following Beijing’s imposition of a wide-ranging national security law on the city.
Through the OSNS, Beijing’s security agents operate openly in Hong Kong, with powers to investigate and prosecute national security crimes.
“Recently, some foreign media reports on Hong Kong have disregarded facts, spread false information, distorted and smeared the government’s disaster relief and aftermath work, attacked and interfered with the Legislative Council election, (and) provoked social division and confrontation,” an OSNS statement posted online shortly after the meeting said.
At the meeting, an official who did not give his name read out a similar statement to media representatives.
He did not give specific examples of coverage that the OSNS had taken issue with, and did not take questions.
The online OSNS statement urged journalists to “not cross the legal red line.”
“The Office will not tolerate the actions of all anti-China and trouble-making elements in Hong Kong, and ‘don’t say we didn’t warn you’,” it read.
For the past week and a half, news coverage in Hong Kong has been dominated by a deadly blaze on a residential estate which killed at least 159 people.
Authorities have warned against crimes that “exploit the tragedy” and have reportedly arrested at least three people for sedition in the fire’s aftermath.
Dissent in Hong Kong has been all but quashed since Beijing brought in the national security law, after huge and sometimes violent protests in 2019.
Hong Kong’s electoral system was revamped in 2021 to ensure that only “patriots” could hold office, and the upcoming poll on Sunday will select a second batch of lawmakers under those rules.
