KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — The Dewan Rakyat today passed the Online Safety Bill 2024, aimed at enhancing and promoting online safety in Malaysia.
The bill was passed after a division was called and 77 MPs voted in favour, 55 against, and 90 absent.
In her wind-up, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the legislation would focus on service providers involved in the licensing process scheduled for January next year.
She added that the law was necessary due to the rapid advancements in telecommunications technology and the increasingly challenging and hazardous online environment, given that nearly 80 per cent of Malaysians use social media platforms.
“With millions of users and billions of ringgit at stake, these service providers can’t just operate for profit… When they enter our territory, they must take responsibility,” she said.
The bill seeks to provide for the duty of a licensed applications service provider and licensed content applications service provider to implement measures to mitigate the risk of users being exposed to harmful content.
It was also to provide for the duty to issue guidelines to users, which includes terms of use as a guide to users when using their services.
It seeks to provide for the duty of a licensed applications service provider and content applications service provider to make available on their services a mechanism that lets users report any content on the services that they believe is harmful.
— Bernama
