The Communications and Multimedia Commission has reportedly asked telecommunications companies for detailed records of phone calls and internet usage in Malaysia, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. Failure to comply with the order is an offence under the Communications and Multimedia Act, which carries a fine of RM20,000 or 6 months in prison.
The telecommunications companies received a letter of instruction in April asking them to hand over phone call and internet usage data for the first three months of 2025 to the government for the Mobile Data Project, according to SCMP sources. Among the data requested were phone call records, IP call records, location, latitude and longitude where they were made.
This raises questions about data security and user privacy if the records are handed over. In 2017, the details of 46.2 million Malaysian mobile phone service subscribers were leaked and later sold on the dark web. The data involved customers of Celcom, Maxis, Digi, Altel, Enabling Asia, FriendiMobile, MerchantTradeAsia, PLDT, RedTone, TuneTalk, UMobile and XOX between 2012 and 2015, according to the MyCert report. To this day, the source and mastermind behind the biggest data leak in Malaysian history remains a mystery.