PUTRAJAYA: Immediate action is being taken to tackle online scams, cyberbullying and sexual crimes against minors in an effort to create a safer space for all Malaysians.
This comes following a Cabinet directive for a concerted effort between enforcement agencies to tackle the issues, with social media platforms providers asked to provide feedback on the matter.
“There are three pressing issues currently shackling Malaysians, namely online scams, cyberbullying and sexual crimes against children, particularly paedophilia.
“These are the three safety challenges faced by the rakyat and we cannot allow it continue,” Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said during a post-Cabinet press conference here.
Citing an example of one of the measures being taken, Fahmi said the police, Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as well as the Attorney-General Chambers have been directed to work together to address the threats.
“They will scrutinise the issues and take immediate action on how to strengthen and streamline aspects with regard to investigations and prosecution of online and cybercrimes,” he added.
Besides this, he said that the MCMC has issued letters to several social media platform providers, directing them to provide feedback on the issues.
Based on current data, Fahmi said Malaysians mostly fall victim to online scams on Facebook, such as love scams amounting to about RM8mil and bogus investment scams totalling about RM132mil in just six months.
“Just imagine, losses of between RM8mil and RM132mil in only the first six months of this year, where criminals had used Facebook to steal people’s savings,” he said.
He said the messaging platform Telegram was used for online gambling activities, leaking of personal and sensitive data as well as piracy issues.
“There are also issues with the piracy of films and videos owned by other parties and Telegram did not take action,” he said, citing previous complains lodged by satellite TV provider Astro.
As for TikTok and X, he said the platforms were commonly used for cyberbullying, creation of fake accounts and pornography.
Meanwhile, Fahmi also lamented that several platform providers were slow in responding to requests from the government to remove certain nefarious contents.
“There are platforms that are more willing to cooperate (with the government) and there are those that aren’t,” he said.
He singled out Telegram, TikTok and X as having below par compliance rate with local laws.
Tiktok had a compliance rate of 76%, with Telegram at 63% and X at 25%.
“For example, Telegram doesn’t even do anything, or is very slow and sluggish, with regards to compliance,” he said.
Comparatively, he noted that Meta had a very high compliance rate for their respective online platforms.
“The compliance rate for Facebook is 85% while Instagram is 88% and WhatsApp is 79%.
“This means that Meta is among the most compliant to local laws,” he said.
Fahmi added that he will be meeting with the social media platform providers in Singapore, where he will making a trip from Sunday to Tuesday.
He said he will hold talks with the platform providers to get their feedback and on how they could better comply with local laws.
