Malaysia Will Not Take Legal Action Against Meta Facebook After Its Hazardous Content Management Commitment

Malaysian Minister of Communications, Fahmi Fadzil (photo: twitter @fahmi_fadzil)

JAKARTA - Malaysia's Minister of Communications, Fahmi Fadzil, stated in an interview on Friday, July 28 that Malaysia may not be continuing its plans to take legal action against Meta Platforms, Facebook's parent company. This follows a "positive" engagement with the company in overcoming harmful content on the social media platform.

Last month, Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it would take legal action against Meta for failing to act against content deemed "unwanted", including those related to race issues, kingdoms, religions, slander, identity counterfeiting, online gambling, and fraudulent advertising.

Fahmi said that Meta has made a strong commitment to working with Malaysian authorities, including regulators and the police, in dealing with such content on their platforms.

"In my opinion, at this time MCMC does not need to start any legal action. I think this level of cooperation is very positive," he said, adding that the government was considering actions such as fines to social media platforms if they failed to address harmful content.

Facebook is Malaysia's largest social media platform, with an estimated 60% of the country's 33 million residents having registered accounts.

Fahmi has rejected concerns over increasing government oversight of online content, and has denied that it has given orders to close several news sites and social media accounts linked to the opposition in recent weeks.

According to him, the closure is likely to be carried out in response to complaints from ordinary users who violate social media guidelines.

This crisis comes as Malaysia prepares to hold a regional election next month that will bring together Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government with a conservative alliance based on the Malays-Muslims.

"The government does not intend to limit freedom of expression, but to take a firm stance on content that includes issues of race, religion and empire," said Fahmi.

"Those who shout that we are an authoritarian regime, I think they are a bit exaggerated," he said.

The issue of race and religion is a sensitive issue in Malaysia, the majority of which are ethnic Malays, most of whom are Muslim, in addition to the significant Chinese and Indian minorities.

Malaysia also has a law prohibiting insults to the sultans, who played a massive role in the ceremony. An opposition figure was tried this month on charges of spreading hatred for allegedly insulting them.

Separately, Fahmi said major telecommunications companies in Malaysia would form a 5G network between the two countries as part of the government's plan to end the monopoly held by the state-owned 5G agency, Digital National Berhad (DNB).

The companies, which have agreed to take shares in DNB and use their networks, will break away to form a second 5G entity when coverage reaches 80% of the population, Fahmi said.