KUALA LUMPUR: Social media platform providers were requested to take down more than 300,000 items of content last year following public complaints, says Fahmi Fadzil.
The Communications Minister said the request was made by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) following public complaints made to various government agencies including the Health Ministry, Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry and the police.
"MCMC requested various platform providers to take down 309,322 items of content.
"Of this total, the respective social media platform providers took action to remove 289,287 items of content which were found to be in breach of Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act," he said in a written reply to Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (IND-Muar) in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday. (Feb 17).
Fahmi said the contents taken down included false information, disgusting and obscene content among others.
The minister noted that the highest number of contents removed were those with elements of of online gambling, totalling 189,485 (65.5%) followed by scams totalling 63,652 (22%).
Meanwhile, also taken down were false contents totalling 17,245 (5.9%) and 13,805 disgusting posts (4.7%), he added.
Fahmi said that the removal of the content was done in accordance with existing laws to ensure that freedom of expression was not abused.
He said the actions taken were aimed at stopping the spread of harmful online contents which had criminal elements that could erode morals or threaten national security.
"Therefore, a balance must be struck with regard to individual rights and the public interest to ensure the well-being of the collective," he added.
He said that the government was responsible for balancing access needs to borderless services and online content for all Malaysians.
"At the same time, the government is responsible to supervise the services and contents to ensure a safe online environment, particularly for children and families," Fahmi said.
He added that MCMC will also take necessary action to curtail the spread of contents that violate the law by seeking their removal.
