MALAYSIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Janet Toh, Boo Cheng Xuan and Yee Yong Xuan, Shearn Delamore & Co.
• any content applications service which utilises internet access service to provide content; and • any network service. However, private messaging features of any applications service and content applications service are explicitly excluded from its scope. Importantly, the proposed legislation applies both within and outside Malaysia, as outlined in Section 3. At the core of the Online Safety Bill 2024 is its emphasis on addressing “harmful content”, which is categorised into the following: • content on child sexual abuse material as provided for under Section 4 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017; • content on financial fraud; • obscene content including content that may give rise to a feeling of disgust due to lewd portrayal which may offend a person’s decency and modesty; • indecent content including content which is profane in nature, improper and against gen - erally accepted behaviour or culture; • content that may cause harassment, distress, fear or alarm by way of threatening, abusive or insulting words or communication or act; • content that may incite violence or terrorism; • content that may induce a child to cause harm to themself; • content that may promote feelings of ill-will or hostility amongst the public at large or may disturb public tranquillity; and • content that promotes the use or sale of dan - gerous drugs. The Online Safety Bill 2024 also introduces stricter regulations for “priority harmful content”, which includes content involving child sexual
abuse material and content related to financial fraud. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is entrusted with admin - istering the Online Safety Bill 2024. The Online Safety Bill 2024 also establishes the Online Safe - ty Committee to advise and give recommenda - tions to the MCMC on matters relating to online safety and the Online Safety Appeal Tribunal to review any written instructions, determinations and directions issued by the MCMC. Further, the proposed legislation assigns duties to licensed ASPs and licensed CASPs, and provides for the reporting of harmful content, some of which are set out below. • Duty to implement measures to mitigate risk of exposure to harmful content: ASPs and CASPs must implement measures specified in the Code issued by the MCMC under the proposed Section 80 (“Code”) to mitigate the risk of users (ie, users of their services) being exposed to harmful content. They may implement alternative measures, subject to the MCMC’s approval, if proven to be more effective. • Duty to issue guidelines to users: ASPs and CASPs must issue clear, accessible and regu - larly updated guidelines describing the safety measures implemented and terms of use, ensuring they are available to users. • Duty to enable users to manage online safety: ASPs and CASPs are required to make avail - able tools and settings that allow users to manage their safety online, such as prevent - ing unwanted communication and restricting identification. • Duty to make available a mechanism for reporting harmful content: ASPs and CASPs must establish a mechanism to enable users
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