THE Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) received a total of 744 reports of Facebook scams from January to May 25. 

Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching said this was followed by Telegram with 17 cases, Whatsapp (16) and Instagram (seven).  

She said the figures clearly showed the importance of cooperation between the government and social media platform providers so that such criminal cases could be acted upon immediately. 

“The ministry understands that platform providers have community guidelines, that’s very common; like the meetings held with TikTok, Facebook and Google, it is to ensure that illegal activities that violate the law can be acted upon as soon as possible. 

“Similarly, if there is racist speech and so on, we can send a list (report) to the platform provider, but the platform provider still uses or refers to its guidelines to make a decision on whether the content will be deleted or not,” she told reporters today.  

Regarding Telegram’s move to ignore the ministry’s invitation to discuss and find solutions regarding several complaints, Teo said the meeting was intended to establish cooperation in curbing criminal activities and was not of a political nature or meant to interfere with freedom of expression. 

“Does a meeting with us mean that they (platform providers) become ‘slaves’ to the government? No, because they have community guidelines in place, but for illegal activities such as online scams, action needs to be taken, and this requires the cooperation of all parties,” she said. 

Teo also urged all parties to take heed of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s call for MCMC to monitor race and religious narratives by political leaders on social media, as action could be taken under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. – Bernama, June 4, 2023.