Malaysia Gives Licenses To WeChat And TikTok To Operate

Illustration of the TikTok application (photo: Pexels)

JAKARTA - Malaysian communications regulators have granted operating licenses to Tencent's WeChat and ByteDance's TikTok to operate in the country under the new social media law.

Malaysia's new law requires social media services to apply for a license if they have more than 8 million users in the country, in an effort to combat rising cyber violations.

In a statement on Wednesday, January 1, Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Commission said the Telegram messaging platform was in the final stages of obtaining its license.

Meanwhile, Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has started the licensing process operating in a country that is familiarly called the neighboring country.

On the other hand, regulators say that X has not submitted an application because the platform states its local user base has not reached a threshold of 8 million.

Alphabet, Google's parent company operating YouTube, has not yet applied for a license. However, regulators insist that YouTube must still comply with applicable rules.

platform providers found violating licensing requirements may be subject to investigations and regulatory action, the regulator said, citing Reuters.

This was done because Malaysia saw a sharp increase in malicious social media content in early 2024 and urged social media companies, including Meta and short video platform TikTok, to increase monitoring of their platforms.