Malaysia's Online Safety Act 2025 Takes Effect

In brief: The Online Safety Act 2025 — passed in 2024 and gazetted the following year — has taken effect from the beginning of 2026, with the regulator (the MCMC) moving to enforce it. It places legal responsibilities on application service providers and social-media platforms to address harmful online content, including cyberbullying, online scams and child exploitation material.

This article is general information about Malaysian online-safety law for the public.

What is the Act about?

Malaysia, like many countries, has grappled with a surge in online harms: financial scams that have cost citizens enormous sums, harassment and bullying on social platforms, and the spread of illegal and exploitative content. Previously, the legal tools to compel platforms to act were limited and scattered. The Online Safety Act creates a dedicated framework imposing 'duties of care' on the large digital platforms that host user content, requiring them to take steps to detect, remove and prevent specified categories of harmful material.

Why does it matter?

This is part of a global wave of online-safety regulation, with the United Kingdom and European Union introducing comparable regimes. For Malaysian users, it promises stronger protection against scams and abuse. For platforms, it brings compliance obligations, potential penalties, and the difficult task of policing content at scale. For lawyers, it opens a new and fast-developing area of practice — advising technology companies on compliance, and advising individuals or businesses harmed by online content on their remedies.

What are the cautions?

Online-safety laws inevitably raise tensions with free expression and privacy, and how the Act is enforced — what counts as 'harmful,' how takedown demands are handled, and how appeals work — will shape its real-world impact. Definitions and enforcement practice are still settling, so this is an area to follow closely rather than assume is fixed.

What happens next?

The things to watch are the first enforcement actions under the Act, the accompanying regulations and codes of practice, and how the courts balance safety against constitutional free-speech protections. In short, a major new compliance and litigation area has arrived in Malaysian law — relevant to anyone advising on digital, media or consumer matters.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Online Safety Act 2025 do?

It places duties of care on application service providers and social-media platforms to detect, remove and prevent harmful online content such as scams, cyberbullying and child exploitation material.

When did it take effect?

The Act took effect from the beginning of 2026, and the MCMC has begun enforcing it, supported by subsidiary regulations and codes of practice.

How does it affect ordinary users?

It is intended to give users stronger protection against online scams and abuse, by requiring platforms to act on harmful content — though how 'harmful' is defined and enforced will develop over time.

Last updated: 21 September 2026.

This article is published by Khaw Ewe Seng & Co., Advocates & Solicitors (Penang) for general information about Malaysian law. It is not legal advice, and it does not create a solicitor–client relationship. For advice on a specific matter, please consult a qualified lawyer.