Malaysia has directed civil servants to stop using Waze during official work, with the government citing the sensitivity of officials' location and movement data for state operations.
An official Penang public works notice says the directive followed an Oct. 20, 2026, meeting of the National Cyber Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The restriction took effect immediately. In a letter dated Oct. 20, Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar, Chief Secretary to the Government, told ministry and department heads to implement it at once.
The National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) FAQ confines the rule to civil servants' work-related use; personal use is outside its stated scope. It advises employees to uninstall Waze, but does not make removal mandatory. The order governs which app officials may use while working, not whether they can keep Waze installed. The government also recommended local navigation alternatives, including TuJu. Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) promotes TuJu as a highway navigation app.
The government framed the measure around the sensitivity of officials' movements and location details. Waze's privacy policy says the app can collect route information and, depending on user settings, may gather location data when it is not open. The policy identifies Waze Mobile Ltd. as the data controller and says the company is incorporated under Israeli law. Waze's terms select Israeli law and courts in the Tel Aviv district for service disputes.
NACSA's FAQ says it has no evidence that Waze performs the type of movement-pattern analysis the government regarded as a possible risk. Waze's policy says the company stores information on servers distributed globally but does not identify where Malaysian users' data is held. The Israeli legal clause sets the rules for disputes; it does not establish that Israeli authorities obtained user information.
Google announced it completed its acquisition of Waze on June 11, 2013. Waze's current policy continues to identify Waze Mobile Ltd. as the controller of the app's user information.
