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ASEAN Headline News: Given that the artificial intelligence application Grok has been misused to generate illegal content involving women and children, the Ministry of Communications of Malaysia is considering re-examining the current automatic registration policy based on the number of users. The Minister of Communications of Malaysia, Fami, stated that even social media platforms with less than 8 million users, such as the X platform, may be included in the regulatory assessment scope due to their potential service risks.

According to a report by Bernama on January 15th, under Malaysian law, as of January 1, 2026, all internet communication and social media service providers in Malaysia with 8 million or more users have automatically registered as ASP(C) license holders. This move aims to ensure that large service providers operate in Malaysia in an orderly, consistent, and effective manner within the domestic legal and regulatory framework.

However, the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, stated that its user count in Malaysia has not yet reached the 800,000 threshold. The Minister of Communications of Malaysia pointed out that although X platform may not be as popular as platforms like TikTok and Facebook in Malaysia, given the problems with Grok, the Ministry of Communications believes it is necessary to re-examine the policy of using the total number of users as the automatic registration criterion.

"We are evaluating the relevant mechanisms and have instructed the Communications Committee to study appropriate restrictions and actions to be taken." Fami said to the media after attending the transfer ceremony of start-up assistance funds at a primary school in his constituency.

The Ministry of Communications of Malaysia has temporarily banned the use of Grok by Malaysian users since it has been repeatedly misused to generate pornographic and explicit content on January 11th. Additionally, Fami mentioned that the Malaysian government intends to promote the implementation of electronic real-name authentication mechanisms such as ID cards, passports, and national digital identities to verify the age of social media platform users. He stated that some countries have successfully implemented similar age restriction measures, but Malaysia will adopt a unique approach based on its own circumstances, such as using the common Malaysian identity document like MyKad to implement the relevant mechanism in a way that suits the national conditions.