Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil has recently revealed that Malaysians have incurred losses of almost RM330 million to scams on Meta platforms which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. This figure is based on reported losses between January to May 2023, and it represents an increase of 25% compared to the full year (January to December) of 2022.
Fahmi has recently met up with Meta together with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) to discuss the rise of fraud, online gambling and content that touches on 3R (race, religion and royalty). He said Meta has provided their commitment and readiness to work closely with the MCMC and PDRM to tackle cybercrimes.
As highlighted repeatedly, Meta has constantly failed to take proactive steps to tackle scam ads on its platform which could have been avoided if it conducted basic checks on new advertisers. Most reported scam ads take days or weeks to be taken down and this is due to a lack of a local moderation team based in Malaysia. Even Fahmi was also a victim of impersonation when his face was used for a scam investment ad.
As highlighted by the MCMC previously, Malaysia’s current policies are ineffective against digital platforms hosted outside of Malaysia. The regulator recently called for intervention with stricter regulatory oversight as social media platforms have not been effective in self-regulating the use of their platforms.
Last month, the MCMC announced that it will take legal action against Meta for failing to tackle Facebook scam ads, impersonation and inappropriate content. However, it seems that Malaysia is not taking a hard stance to hold foreign platforms accountable.
When asked if Malaysia will draft similar laws to Australia where fines can be imposed for social media platforms, Fahmi said there are no plans to do so at the moment. He said the government is not taking that direction and he hopes that the ministry will be able to tackle scammers, criminal violations and other issues through existing engagement processes and cooperation form relevant parties.
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