MALAYSIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Janet Toh, Irene Yong, Krystle Lui and Boo Cheng Xuan, Shearn Delamore & Co.
can be relied on to protect distinctive logos, game titles and branding elements. Lastly, patents protection may be relied on to safeguard technological innovations, including game mechanics, software algorithms and vir - tual reality features. 10. Social Media 10.1 Laws and Regulations for Social Media There is currently no specific Malaysian legisla - tive framework governing social media. CMA As noted from 6. Telecommunications , the pro - vision of social media services is a licensable activity under the CMA, because it is considered as the provision of applications services which requires the provider to be registered as an ASP class licensee. The same applies to the provi - sion of internet messaging services, which are often provided alongside social media services. “Social media service” is defined by the Licens - ing Regulations to mean an applications service which utilises internet access service that ena - bles two or more users to create, upload, share, disseminate or modify content; whereas, “inter - net messaging service” refers to an applications service which utilises internet access service that enables a user to communicate any form of messages with another user. The requirement for providers of social media and internet messaging services to be licensed under the CMA came into effect on 1 January 2025. Notwithstanding the foregoing, pursuant to the Exemption Order, a provider who has less than eight million users in Malaysia is exempted from that requirement.
Following a public consultation and the even - tual release of the Public Consultation Report on the draft Code of Conduct (Best Practice) for Internet Messaging Service Providers and Social Media Service Providers on 18 December 2024, the MCMC has on 20 December 2024 published the Code of Conduct (Best Practice) for Internet Messaging Service Providers and Social Media Service Providers, which sets out the best prac - tice for adoption by internet messaging service providers and social media service providers licensed under the CMA in addressing harmful content online, as well as other relevant con - duct requirements. The Code of Conduct aims to ensure that service providers uphold online safety and security, particularly for children and vulnerable groups. This introduction precedes the coming into force of the OSB discussed below. OSB The OSB was recently passed to govern, among others, any applications service which utilises internet access service that enables communi - cations between users. As noted above, social media services are a type of applications ser - vice, and hence within the purview of the OSB. The proposed legislation assigns duties to ASPs licensed under the CMA (which include social media service providers), some of which are as follows: • duty to implement measures to mitigate risk of exposure to harmful content; • duty to enable the user to manage online safety; • duty to protect online safety of child user; • duty to establish a mechanism for making priority harmful content inaccessible; and • duty to prepare an online safety plan.
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