Meta in final process of obtaining social media licence, says Fahmi

PETALING JAYA: Social media giant Meta is in the final stages of securing an application service provider (ASP) class licence in Malaysia, according to communications minister Fahmi Fadzil.

Fahmi said the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is finalising documentation to meet specific legal requirements for the licensing process, Bernama reported.

“Meta is in the final process of submitting certain documents,” he said during a panel discussion on “Social Media Licensing in Malaysia: Key Insights & Impact” on RTM’s On The Table programme today.

Fahmi said other platform providers such as Google and X (formerly Twitter) are undergoing evaluation of their compliance status.

He said while Google has argued that it is not a social media platform, the ministry maintains that certain parts of its YouTube platform, such as YouTube Shorts, function like social media, similar to TikTok.

On Jan 1, it was reported that Tencent (WeChat) and ByteDance (TikTok) successfully obtained licences to operate in Malaysia under the newly introduced licensing requirements for internet messaging service and social media service providers.

On July 27 last year, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said all social media and messaging services with at least eight million registered users in Malaysia are required to have the licence from Jan 1 this year.