KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has questioned the Asia Internet Coalition’s (AIC) mandate to issue differing versions of an open letter criticising Putrajaya’s licensing initiative for social media platforms.
In a letter to AIC from MCMC’s network security chief officer Datuk Mohamed Sulaiman Sultan Suhaibuddeen, the regulatory body pressed the lobby group to explain why its open letter addressed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was re-uploaded multiple times with differing logos of member companies on each instance.
The MCMC letter, dated today, questioned why AIC’s letter, dated August 23 and uploaded on AIC’s website, initially included numerous logos of coalition member companies, namely LINE, Grab, Yahoo, Rakuten, Zalora, Pinterest, Google, Spotify, X, Snap Inc. Shopify, Amazon, Apple Inc., Booking.com, Meta, LinkedIn and FedEx.
The use of these logos, Sulaiman said, gives the impression that the letter had been authorised and agreed to by the companies.
However, soon after the letter was issued, Grab had distanced itself from its content, clarifying in a statement that while its company logo was displayed in the document, it was “neither informed nor consulted” on the matter.
“Please provide MCMC with written authorization (of AIC’s authority) to write on behalf of all the aforesaid companies and the basis upon which AIC included Grab, since the said company has stated they were not consulted,” said Sulaiman in the letter, sent on behalf of MCMC chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din.
“Kindly provide MCMC with this authorisation on an immediate basis so that we may understand more fully subsequent developments that as of this letter we find difficult to comprehend,” Sulaiman said.
MCMC’s letter also said the AIC letter was removed from its website, to be replaced with another version only displaying the logos of Meta, LinkedIn, Apple inc., Amazon, Google and X as its member companies.
“MCMC notes that this second version removes all the Asian origin companies stated in AIC’s initial letter. Thus, note MCMC’s concern to seek proof as to the basis and AIC’s authority to write the letter and to make changes to the letter on AIC’s website.”
A third version of the AIC letter was then published, with AIC stating that it is issuing the latest version “with applicable representation” of the coalition member companies. The version in question did not include any logos or names of companies AIC is representing.
“As if this was not confusing enough, it appears that AIC has now removed the (initial) letter and the second version,” Sulaiman said, stressing that MCMC has yet to officially receive any edition of the letter.
Earlier today, MCMC refuted claims it did not engage stakeholders and industry players when developing the government’s move to require a licence for social media platforms and online messaging systems.
The commission said that after cabinet approval for the proposed regulatory framework on the licensing requirement was obtained on March 8, efforts have been ongoing to ensure dialogues are held with relevant quarters.
In Sulaiman’s letter, he highlighted that despite AIC’s claim of “no formal public consultation”, the coalition had been “duly engaged and consulted” in relation to the licensing framework.
This, he said, was evidenced by a May 28 engagement session with the coalition attended in-person by its secretariat representatives, Sarthak Luthra and Edika Amin.
“Subsequently, AIC provided their written input on 26th June 2024 to MCMC which MCMC has duly taken into consideration.”
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has since said the government would proceed with its licensing plan as previous engagements with social media platform representatives – including those AIC claims as its members – were positive.
It was previously reported that between August 1 and December 31, MCMC will hold more engagement sessions with stakeholders, including social media and messaging system providers, to establish a code of conduct and outline actions for non-compliance before the regulatory framework comes into effect on January 1, 2025. – August 27, 2024