KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Malaysia's

communications regulator has defended a plan for local

telecommunications firms to re-route web traffic through their

own domain name system (DNS) servers, saying the move was meant

to protect users from harmful online content.

The directive, which takes effect on Sept. 30, has prompted

new concerns, including from some ruling party officials, of

growing online censorship and fears that it could jeopardise the

country's digital economy.

DNS is a system that translates domain names into numerical

addresses used by computers to locate websites on the internet.

While local internet service providers, or ISPs, often

operate their own DNS servers, some web users use public DNS

servers, such as those provided by Google or

Cloudflare ( NET ), to gain faster internet speeds or access

websites blocked on local ISPs.

Under the government plan, user requests from such

third-party DNS servers will be redirected to those operated by

Malaysian ISPs.

In a statement late on Saturday, the Malaysian

Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) denied the

measure was "draconian", saying it was aimed at protecting

vulnerable groups from malicious or harmful content, such as

online gambling, pornography, copyright infringements, phishing

or financial scams.

"DNS redirection ensures that harmful websites are blocked

while legitimate websites remain reachable without noticeable

disruption," MCMC said, adding that it had blocked 24,277

websites between 2018 and Aug. 1, 2024 to protect users' safety.

Users facing trouble accessing sites could file a complaint

to ISPs, while blocked websites can appeal to regulators, it

said.

State assemblyman Syed Ahmad Syed Abdul Rahman Alhadad, a

member of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's People's Justice Party,

had called the plan "draconian", saying it could negatively

effect Malaysia's digital economy - which has been boosted this

year by large investments from major tech firms such as

Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Nvidia ( NVDA ), and

Google.

Lim Yi Wei, an assemblywoman from the Democratic Action

Party, part of Anwar's ruling coalition, said the plan amounted

to censorship and posed cybersecurity risks such as DNS

poisoning, where web traffic could be redirected by hackers.

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of online content

under Anwar, who ran on a progressive platform before being

voted into power in 2022.

An Asian industry group that includes major tech firms such

as Meta, Google and X last month urged Malaysia to

pause a plan to license social media platforms, citing a lack of

clarity over the proposed regulations.