In July, the Malaysian government announced that all social media and internet messaging platforms with at least eight million registered users in the country must apply for a class licence from 2025 or face penalties,

Elon Musk’s X and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which operates video streaming platform YouTube, have not applied for a social media operating license under Malaysia’s new law which kicked in on Wednesday,

The two Chinese technology companies had each obtained licenses under requirements for internet- messaging and social-media companies unveiled last year.

Malaysia’s internet regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), disclosed that X argued it did not meet the user threshold. Meanwhile, Google has expressed concerns about