Social Media Licensing in Malaysia: Who Actually Needs the ASP(C) Licence

Every few months a Malaysian seller is told they need a social media licence. They do not. The framework licenses platforms, and the drafting is narrower than the headlines suggest.

What was actually gazetted

Two instruments, both made 26 July 2024, gazetted 1 August 2024, and in operation from 1 January 2025 — a five-month grace period.

P.U. (A) 205/2024 amended the Communications and Multimedia (Licensing) Regulations 2000 to define social media service and internet messaging service, and added both to the list of class-licensable applications services in regulation 30(1).

P.U. (A) 206/2024 amended the Exemption Order 2000. The wording matters. It exempts an internet messaging service or a social media service which has less than eight million users in Malaysia. It is an exemption for those below the line, not a trigger for those above it. Writing that a platform needs a licence at eight million users is a paraphrase, not the gazetted text, and the distinction changes who bears the burden of showing where they sit.

The 2026 layer most guidance misses

Content that stops at 2025 is now a year out of date.

Section 46A was inserted into the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and came into force on 11 February 2025. It lets a person be deemed registered under a class licence by Ministerial Declaration, with no formal registration submitted.

Licence instrument ASP/C/2025/1, dated 15 December 2025 and granted under ss.44, 126 and 127, takes effect 1 January 2026 for internet messaging services and social media services. On the same date MCMC deemed registered all such providers with eight million or more Malaysian users, naming WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Providers already registered stay registered, and the deeming bites only once their existing registration period expires. Per MCMC’s FAQ, a deemed registration has no fixed validity period and runs until cancelled — unlike an ordinary class licence, which is valid one year from registration and must be re-applied for annually while the threshold is met.

The Local Representative condition

Clause 5 of ASP/C/2025/1 applies to a licensee that is a foreign individual or foreign company as defined in the Companies Act 2016. That licensee must appoint a Local Representative — an individual ordinarily resident in Malaysia, or an entity incorporated under Malaysian law — who is the point of contact for MCMC and other authorities, accepts service of legal notices and court documents, and facilitates directions including on removing or blocking access to content that contravenes Malaysian law. Communications to the Local Representative count as communications to the licensee, the role must be available and operational at all times, and any change must be notified to MCMC immediately. MCMC’s FAQ confirms no physical office is required.

If you sell on a platform, you are an end user

MCMC says it directly. The Information Paper records that the framework applies only to Service Providers meeting the licensing criteria and does not involve end users, and that Malaysian end users are not affected because only Service Providers need the ASP(C) licence. Paragraph 4.9 places e-commerce platforms outside the framework as a deliberate policy choice.

So a shop on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok holds no licence, files no return and has no MCMC registration number. Its obligations sit elsewhere — business registration, and the council licensing covered in online business licence.

Common mistakes

Quoting the threshold backwards. The gazette exempts services with fewer than eight million Malaysian users. Stating it as a licensing trigger inverts the drafting.

Assuming a sub-threshold platform can opt in. No official source supports voluntary application. The exemption operates by law.

Confusing licensing with online safety. Licensing is a Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 question. The Online Safety Act 2025 assumes you are already a licensee and adds content duties on top — see the Online Safety Act 2025.

Ignoring the penalty. Providing an applications service without a licence from 1 January 2025 exposes the provider to a fine up to RM500,000 or five years imprisonment or both under s.126(2), plus RM1,000 for every day the offence continues after conviction.

What’s next

If you operate a platform, test the user count against the exemption wording and, if foreign, appoint the Local Representative before any MCMC notice arrives. If you sell on a platform, stop looking for a licence you cannot hold and check your council and business registration position instead.