A busy online shop can send out parcel after parcel and still have an uncomfortable question at the end of the day: how much of each sale actually stays with the seller?
That pressure is back on the government’s agenda. On 21 October, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia’s digital economy must offer fair competition, flagging high platform commissions, restrictive contracts and control over consumer data as practices that can disadvantage small businesses.
For shoppers, this goes beyond whether a voucher appears at checkout. The terms under which businesses reach us can shape the prices, choices and shops that remain available.
What changed on Wednesday
According to Bernama, Anwar made the remarks after chairing this year’s third meeting of the National Digital Economy and Fourth Industrial Revolution Council. Reviewing the Malaysia Competition Commission’s findings was among the areas he highlighted, alongside infrastructure and government ICT spending.
This was a statement of policy priorities. It did not announce a new universal commission ceiling, order an immediate refund or identify a platform found guilty of breaking competition law.
So sellers have a fresh political signal to watch, rather than a new fee schedule to apply to tomorrow’s orders. That difference matters when planning a business around margins that are already tight.
The investigation into the ecosystem already exists
MyCC launched its digital economy market review in February 2026, following an 18-month study that began in July 2024. Its coverage stretches across retail marketplaces, mobile operating systems and payments, digital advertising, and accommodation-booking platforms.
Privacy and data protection run across those areas. The commission highlighted concerns including commission structures, restrictive terms, unclear pricing mechanisms and control over consumer data. It also proposed a central digital economy taskforce to coordinate the response.
That breadth explains why a single promise to make online shopping cheaper would miss much of the problem. A business can need a marketplace to find customers, an advertising service to get noticed and a payment system to finish the sale. Each relationship has its own terms.
The market review is a way to examine those relationships together. Its findings and recommendations still need to be distinguished from an enforcement decision against a particular company.
A marketplace is more than its commission percentage
In its retail-marketplace segment, MyCC examined platforms connecting multiple sellers with consumers buying goods online. It identified 34 issues across competition, market and regulatory matters, with 18 recommendations.
Importantly, that segment excludes services such as food delivery, ride-hailing and logistics. A headline about the retail review should not be read as a finding about every app that takes a commission.
For a small retailer, the useful question is the complete cost of making a sale. As an illustration, a business reviewing its own accounts would need to compare the selling price with all applicable charges, its stock cost and the amount finally received. A higher sales total alone cannot answer whether the shop is earning more.
That is a basic accounting comparison, not a claim that all platforms impose the same deductions. The actual charges have to come from the seller’s agreement and transaction records.
The hotel room is part of this conversation too
MyCC’s online-travel-agency review focuses on accommodation bookings made through websites and mobile platforms. This places hotels and other accommodation businesses within the broader competition discussion, rather than treating digital commerce as parcels alone.
For travellers comparing a room, the relevant product is the whole booking: the final amount, room type and cancellation terms. Two prices on a screen are only a useful comparison if those details match.
For the accommodation provider, distribution terms affect how it reaches guests. Neither an attractive search page nor a low advertised room price tells us, by itself, whether the commercial relationship is fair.
The government’s latest remarks do not establish that booking through a platform is bad value. They put the terms connecting businesses and customers under scrutiny.
Visibility, payments and data sit behind the shopfront
The review also reaches services that shoppers might barely notice. Its mobile segment covers operating systems, app stores, app distribution and integrated payments. Its advertising segment examines the markets in which businesses buy digital advertising space across search, social media and other channels.
Those are different commercial gates between a business and a potential customer. Looking at one checkout charge while ignoring how a seller becomes visible would leave part of that journey unexplained.
Data adds another layer. Anwar specifically raised control over consumer data, and MyCC treats data protection as a theme across the review. Customers have a stake here too: buying something should not require them to ignore what happens to information handed over along the way.
None of this means a particular seller automatically owns every piece of customer information. Rights and obligations depend on the applicable rules and agreements; the point is that access and protection both belong in the discussion.
A complaint about competition needs the right route
MyCC’s own complaint guidance distinguishes competition concerns from ordinary shopping disputes. It lists anti-competitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position among matters it handles. Its examples include price fixing, bid rigging and conduct that abuses market power.
A missing parcel or a disputed purchase is not automatically evidence of either. The commission directs purchase claims and consumer issues towards the relevant consumer channels, while other regulated sectors have their own authorities.
For a business raising a competition concern, keeping the actual contract, notices and transaction records would make its account more concrete than a screenshot of a disappointing sales month. For a shopper, identifying whether the problem is a purchase dispute or a wider market practice helps avoid sending it down the wrong path.
The next useful development will be a specific measure: what practice it addresses, who must change it and when it takes effect. Until then, the test for digital growth remains very practical. More orders should give a small business a fair chance to build a sustainable livelihood, not merely a bigger number on its dashboard.
Sources & further reading
Prepared with AI assistance from linked reporting. The cover is an AI-generated editorial illustration. Spotted something we should correct?