Enough warnings given

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will be taking legal action against Facebook’s parent company Meta over its “inaction towards removing harmful content on the platform”.

MCMC said Facebook had recently become inundated with a significant amount of harmful content, including those that touched on race, royalty and religion (3R), along with defamation, impersonation, online gambling and scam advertisements.

In a statement yesterday, the regulator said despite previous warnings from MCMC to Meta on the removal of such content, the company had failed to take sufficient action in addressing the issue on its platform.

“Meta’s response, which has been sluggish and unsatisfactory, has not met the urgency of the matter and led to increasing public concern and scrutiny.

“As there is no sufficient cooperation from Meta, MCMC has no option but to take definitive steps or legal action against Meta as a measure to ensure that people are secure and protected in the digital sphere.

“The action is necessary in promoting accountability for cybersecurity and enhancing consumer protection against online harms, including fraudulent activities and scams,” read the MCMC statement.

This comes shortly after Telegram had agreed to cooperate with government efforts to clamp down on criminal activity on its platform following scrutiny from MCMC.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia supports MCMC’s intent to take legal action against Meta.

Bursa Malaysia and its management were targeted for ill-intentioned impersonations, in particular of its chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, said the bourse in a statement yesterday.

According to MCMC, there were a total of 744 reports of online scams involving Facebook from January to May 23 this year.

“Over 60 Facebook pages impersonating Bursa Malaysia and its CEO were found, with a spike in recent months.

“Bursa Malaysia is very concerned about the time taken to remove these pages despite its prompt actions to report these pages,” it said, adding that the delay increased the risk of scams for innocent and unknowing members of the public.

Unfortunately, fake pages continue to rapidly emerge on Facebook and other social media sites, said the statement.

“Despite submitting recurring take down reports that establish a very clear pattern of impersonation, we are very concerned that incidents of the same nature continue to occur.

“We need the relevant entities, including Meta, to place algorithms or checks to prevent or quickly detect these blatant scams,” said Muhamad Umar in the statement.

He also urged Meta to take further steps to prevent confusion and fraud among its users, as well as reputational damage and negative brand associations.

The statement included photos of the sponsored posts that promised “exclusive stock tips” that would lead users to be contacted via unsolicited text messages from fake Bursa Malaysia agents.

“Any communication, other than via Bursa Malaysia’s verified and official website and social media channels, is not authorised or lawful, and is designed to mislead or cheat the public,” said the statement.

Bursa Malaysia added that anyone who received unsolicited or suspicious communications from persons claiming to be agents of the bourse should email [e-mail] or call 03-2732 0067 to verify the authenticity of such content or communications.