Malaysia bans civil servants from using Israeli-made Waze navigation app

KUALA Lumpur, Malaysia — Malaysia banned civil servants from using the navigation app Waze, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s office said on Wednesday, citing data security concerns over its links to Israel.

Kuala Lumpur is a longstanding and vocal critic of Israel and maintains no diplomatic relations with it.

Waze, which is owned by Google LLC, was founded in Israel and remains incorporated there.

Anwar “has decided to prohibit the use of the navigation application Waze among all civil servants,” his office said.

“This measure is intended to safeguard government information and users’ personal data against the threat of misuse by the Israeli regime,” it added in a statement posted on Facebook.

The decision was made at a National Cyber Security Committee meeting chaired by Anwar on Tuesday, local media reports said.

The Malaysian government did not give further details on why civil servants were prohibited from using Waze, which uses data from drivers to provide real-time traffic information.

It did not say how the ban would be enforced or monitored.

But the government said that “sensitive government information and the personal data of citizens must be protected from being exploited by the Israeli regime in a manner that could compromise national security and sovereignty.”

Anwar suggested users switch to platforms such as TuJu, a locally developed Malaysian road navigation app.

Waze is widely used in Malaysia, including as a back-up navigation aid by drivers for its Grab online cab hailing service.

“We will close any avenues that the Israeli regime could exploit to threaten the security of the nation and its people,” the Malaysian government said.

Earlier this month, Iraq, which also does not have ties with Israel, announced it would ban Waze from next year, because the app was made in the Jewish state.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.