Social media licensing: Is it being done with right intentions?
By Zan Azlee

Initially, I was going to write an angry article about how the government is curbing freedom of speech and expression by imposing an annual license for all social media platforms.

It gave me flashbacks of the mid-2000s when the government of the day floated the idea of wanting everyone in Malaysia who had blogs to be registered with the government. It was a foolish idea and I’m glad it never happened.

So when Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil announced that the government wants social media platforms operating in Malaysia to register, I thought “What happened to you Fahmi? You were so cool before you became a minister.”

He was one of those people who would have protested the move to want bloggers to be registered many years ago.

However, with further retrospection, research and thought, I don’t think I will be writing a very angry article. The reason is that I think the intention of wanting to deal with issues of cyberbullying, scams, sex crimes and abuse of children is something good.

Also, I am a bit older now as compared to the mid-2000s and I would like to think that I don’t respond with knee-jerk reactions anymore without actually learning more about it first.

Instead, I would like to offer certain suggestions and recommendations to the minister and the rest of the cabinet.

Proper research

First, licensing is not a good idea as it gives a perception of Big Brother wanting tight control of the reigns. It will generate the same perception of the Printing Presses and Publishing Act (PPPA), which the current government (or Pakatan Harapan at least) promised to abolish before they were elected to power. It gives the impression of curbing freedom of speech.

Why can’t the authorities just use other laws that already exist to curb these problems? For example, we have the Defamation Act that can be used for false news and information.

I’m sure there are other laws as well that can be used, and if not, then construct laws that can be used but more holistic and better defined so that they won’t be abused and misused.

If bullying is the concern, enact laws that help curb bullying across the board, from physical bullying to the cyber kind. If scamming is the problem, then enact laws that will be across the board, to cover everything including phone and online scams.

Same with sex crimes and child abuse. Make sure that the laws cover it all across the board so that it doesn’t come off as if social media is the problem.

Do remember that the laws need to be researched and drafted well too so that they can address the crime and offences specifically. We have too many past traumas with laws that are so broad-reaching that anything can be called under it, and we know what the consequences of that can be. Oh, we are just all too familiar with that.

Proper research needs to be done as well. It is all well and good that the government engaged many stakeholders to get their opinions. Benchmarking and comparing with other countries that have enacted laws is also a good idea, and funnily enough, many of the countries that have tried to regulate social media platforms in the form of licensing and registration haven’t had the desired results.

Singapore passed the Protection from Online Falsehood and Manipulation Act in 2019. However, scam cases have steadily climbed, and 46,000 cases were reported last year.

A recent survey by Singapore’s Digital Development and the Information Ministry also showed that 74 percent of Internet users were exposed to harmful content like cyberbullying and sexual content, a rise from 64 percent in 2023.

Germany enacted the Network Enforcement Act in 2018. The law is quite stringent, yet data from 2022 saw 136,865 cybercrime cases being reported which is a two-fold increase in ten years.

Australia created the Enhancing Online Safety Act in 2015 following a few high-profile suicide cases involving cyberbullying and then updated it in 2021 with the Online Safety Act.

However, cyberbullying is still prevalent. More than 44 percent of youth claim to have bad experiences online, many even involving threats and abuse.

Double-prong approach

So far, there hasn’t been any evidence to show that stricter laws and regulations reduce cybercrimes, cyberbullying and sexual offences online. Of course, it doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be any laws to try and prevent these from happening.

It is important that the laws are done properly and for the right purpose. It also needs to be constantly adapted through time.

There needs to be a double-prong approach as well. The most important would be education, awareness and resilience.

Our society must create an environment where we are foolproof against cyberbullying and other forms of abuse and scams. If we stop allowing ourselves to become victims by learning how to be resilient, then cyberbullies and scammers won’t be able to, as they say, “cari makan”.

So, I do hope that before the new law is implemented in January 2025, the government will study all aspects and prove to the people that this is all being done with the right intentions.

It shouldn’t just be them telling us of their intentions, it should be done so that we can see it in the policies that they draft and enact.

[This article was originally written for and published at Malaysiakini.com]

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