KUALA LUMPUR: Existing laws, including the Online Safety Act 2025, will govern any regulatory or enforcement action over alleged foreign interference in Malaysia’s elections through an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, says Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil (pic).
He said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) would also carry out any regulatory and enforcement action in line with the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and other applicable laws under its jurisdiction.
Fahmi said MCMC was seeking further information and clarification from US AI company Anthropic over a report alleging that its Claude AI platform was used to run an election manipulation operation targeting users in Malaysia.
“Based on the information and evidence obtained, the commission would determine the appropriate follow-up action. This is in line with MCMC’s jurisdiction and the relevant legal provisions, including through cooperation with enforcement agencies, security agencies, platform providers and relevant parties, if necessary,” he said in a written parliamentary reply yesterday.
Fahmi was responding to Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari, who asked about measures to conduct a comprehensive investigation to curb foreign entities from interfering in and manipulating Malaysia’s elections through the Claude platform and other AI applications, following Anthropic’s report.
The report, titled “Detecting and Countering Misuse of AI: September 2026”, detailed an alleged operation that used actual census data and millions of voter records to target Malaysia’s political and social fault lines, including race, religion and the royal institution, across all 222 parliamentary constituencies.
It was reported that Anthropic uncovered the operation after identifying an account that used its platform to manipulate elections and target Malaysian users.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said the Digital Ministry was drafting an Artificial Intelligence Governance Bill to strengthen the country’s AI governance framework, including aspects of accountability, risk management and the responsibilities of parties developing and implementing AI systems.
“The government will continue to strengthen monitoring of the risks of AI technology misuse and cooperation with technology providers, digital platforms and relevant agencies to address online harms and ensure that the country’s digital environment remains safe, transparent and trusted,” he said.
