SINGAPORE: Malaysia will require social media services to apply for a license if they have more than 8 million users in the country from August 1, in an attempt to combat increasing cyber offences, said the government.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said in a statement on Saturday that the license was in line with cabinet's decision that social media and internet messaging services comply with Malaysian laws aimed at fighting scams, cyberbullying and sexual crimes.

If social media services fail to apply for a license by 1 January 2025 then legal action will be taken against them, said the commission.

Last week, Malaysia's Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the regulator had issued directives to social media firms to provide feedback on the government's concerns regarding cybercrime and harmful content found on their platforms.

Malaysia reported a sharp increase in harmful social media content earlier this year and urged social media firms, including Facebook parent Meta and short video platform TikTok to step up monitoring on their platforms.

Currently, the communications regulator can flag content that contravenes local laws to social media firms but it was up to the platforms to decide on removing content.