The government has admitted that it is studying the possibility of regulating online news portals following Singapore's decision to regulate online portals last week.

The Singaporean government had made it necessary for online portals to obtain a licence from the Media Development Authority (MDA) if their readership reaches 50,000 a month or more.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said that social media has become the mainstream media and there is a need to look into this possibility.