SAN FRANCISCO: The government has no plans to introduce legislations on advertising revenue sharing with global media platforms like some other countries have done, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.
Instead, he said it would be best for media organisations themselves to take the lead and engage with the social media platforms.
The ministry. he said, would assist and had conveyed this to social media giants like Google and Tik Tok during meetings on the sidelines of the 30th Apec Economic Leaders meeting here.
"I have conveyed to these organisations that we would like to see a positive and constructive engagement with local media organisations.
"They are ready and willing to discuss the issues," he said.
He said this when asked to comment on developments concerning advertising revenue sharing by social media giants like Meta, Google and Tik Tok with traditional media outlets.
Fahmi, however, said Malaysia had no plans to introduce a parliamentary Act as had been done in places like Australia to compel social medial platforms to share advertising revenue.
"At this point there is no need to go down that road just yet.
"Malaysia need not blindly follow or copy what other countries are doing or have done.
"We will find a path that suits us best and for now I believe constructive engagement between our media outlets and the social media platforms is good enough.
"An enactment of the law to this effect would be the last resort," he said.
In July, Fahmi was reported to have said that the ministry plans to draft a bill related to the return of advertising expenditure for the survival of media organisations in the country.
Fahmi had then said that the drafting of the bill was important because he did not want to see more media prractitioners lose their jobs or undertake a voluntary separation scheme (VSS).
He said the government plans to hold a meeting with giants like Tik Tok, Google and Meta to discuss the matter Because the situation is partly contributed by advertising expenditure being taken out of the country by them.
"We see a huge impact on media organisations.
"Many workers have been laid off and this is something I believe the government cannot take lightly," he had then said.
On July 25, Fahmi said Malaysia had the right to do what is necessary to ensure the sustainability of the media industry and protecting its work.
He said this included introducing rules or laws for technology companies that use content produced by local media organisations to ensure fair competition.
He said the government was ready to assist in negotiations for local media companies to get compensation from tech giants, whether directly or indirectly.
Fahmi had also pointed to Australia and Canada as having introduced laws to protect media content and requiring parties involved to hold negotiations.
The News Media Bargaining and DFigital Platforms Bargaining Code in Australia has seen Google and Facebook agreeing to pay A$220 million in compensation to media groups in the country last year.
However, the introduction of the Online News Act in Canada led to facebook's decision to boycott Canadian news.