KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has taken down 345,712 pieces of harmful online content, an effort that required the equivalent of 19.7 years of man-hours, says Datuk Fahmi Fadzil (pic).
The Communications Minister said from Jan 1 until July 1, the MCMC had identified 345,712 pieces of harmful content for removal from digital platforms, with each request taking 30 to 45 minutes to process due to documentation and justification requirements.
“If we take the 345,712 requests and multiply them by 30 minutes each, it means that from Jan 1 until July 1, the MCMC has spent about 19.7 years of working time filing reports on content believed to be harmful,” he said in response to a question from Rodziah Ismail (PH-Ampang), who asked whether the government would strengthen MCMC's workforce, technical expertise, and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities alongside the full rollout of the 10 subsidiary instruments under the Online Safety Act 2025 during Question Time.
He added that about 91% of the flagged content involved gambling and scam-related material repeatedly produced by criminals and promoted via digital platforms.
Fahmi said MCMC is exploring the use of agentic AI to improve complaint-handling efficiency and reduce the workload of officers, while also encouraging social media platforms to deploy artificial intelligence to detect and remove content violating community guidelines more quickly.
Aside from that, he said the government is finalising the regulatory framework under the Online Safety Act 2025 (Act 866), including the completion of another subsidiary instrument related to private messaging features to clarify the obligations of digital platforms in dealing with harmful content.
He said the MCMC is currently conducting a public consultation to develop the Online Safety Regulations (Other Nature of Private Messaging Features).
The consultation, which began on June 19, is scheduled to end on July 20 before the regulation is finalised.
“All subsidiary legislation, codes and guidelines are being drafted to detail the obligations of licensed service providers under Act 866, while also providing clear guidance on compliance with statutory responsibilities,” said Fahmi.
He was responding to the initial question from Rodziah, who asked about the status of subsidiary instruments under Act 866, including regulations, guidelines and implementation mechanisms.
Fahmi said the regulation is part of 10 subsidiary instruments comprising regulations, codes and guidelines that complement Act 866, with four already enforced on Jan 1, 2026, alongside the Act.
These include the Online Safety (Fees) Regulations 2025, Online Safety (Form of Undertaking) Regulations 2025, Online Safety (Online Safety Appeal Tribunal) Regulations 2025, and Online Safety (Duration) Regulations 2025.
Two more were enforced on July 1, 2026, the Online Safety (Compounding of Offences) Regulations 2026 and the Online Safety (Online Safety Plan) Regulations 2026.
He said the implementation of Act 866 and its subsidiary regulations, codes and guidelines will ensure social media platforms take greater responsibility in creating a safer digital ecosystem, including proactively detecting and addressing harmful content.
“Such issues should not be handled by MCMC. They should be dealt with by the platforms themselves,” he said.
