Internet freedom conditions remained stable in Malaysia. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) continued to remove online content that was perceived to be critical of the government, and legislation that was adopted during the coverage period granted further censorship powers to the regulator.

• In September 2024, the MCMC rolled back planned rules that would have required Malaysian service providers to reroute domain name system (DNS) traffic to domestic servers, a practice known as DNS hijacking, after civil society groups raised concerns about how the measure could facilitate censorship.1 The Sinar Project, a Malaysian civic technology organization, first reported evidence of DNS hijacking by two service providers in August 2024 (B1 and B3).2
• Disclosures by the short-video platform TikTok indicated a high rate of requests to remove content under local law during the coverage period,3 and prominent activist Fahmi Reza’s account on the platform was banned in December 2024, while he was live-streaming a lecture about student activism (B2 and B8).4
• Parliament passed two laws aimed at regulating online content in December 2024. The Communications and Multimedia (Amendment) Act 2024 afforded the MCMC new powers to censor content on social media platforms and criminalized “indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or grossly offensive” content, among other provisions. The second law, the Online Safety Act, established a duty for social media platforms to “mitigate the risk of users being exposed to harmful content,” and tasked the MCMC with enforcing the duty through content-removal and surveillance authorities. The first law took effect in February 2025, and the Online Safety Act received royal assent in May 2025 (B3, C2, and C6).5
• Several people were arrested and charged for their online commentary about politics, including social media posts that were deemed insulting to Malaysia’s hereditary rulers.6 In October 2024, a Cambodian woman living in Malaysia was arrested and deported to Cambodia, reportedly because of her social media posts criticizing that country’s government (C3).7

The Barisan Nasional (BN) political coalition ruled Malaysia from independence in 1957 until 2018, maintaining power by manipulating electoral districts, appealing to ethnic nationalism, and suppressing criticism through restrictive speech laws and politicized prosecutions of opposition leaders. The BN lost to an opposition alliance in the 2018 general elections, and political affairs have since been characterized by a more complex pattern of competition and cooperation among multiple coalitions, creating opportunities for reform and modest improvements to civil liberties.

This report has been abridged for Freedom on the Net 2025 due to ongoing budget constraints. Please consider making a donation to support future editions of this vital resource.

For additional background information, see last year’s full report.