KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Malaysia’s internet regulator today clarified that 72 per cent of content posted online was removed at requests because they promoted gambling and scams.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) denied that it was being used as a “state apparatus” to prevent public discussion on specific issues such as government policies and administration.

“MCMC wishes to emphasise that its primary duty, as outlined in the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA 1998), is to protect Malaysian Internet users and to ensure a safe online environment for all, especially children,” it said in a statement.

The commission was responding to veteran newsman R. Nadeswaran who wrote an opinion piece published on June 19 that suggested the Anwar administration was using agencies to crack down on dissent.

Advertisement

“In his article, the writer referenced data from TikTok’s bi-annual ‘Government Removal Requests Report’, suggesting that the government and regulatory bodies are intolerant of criticisms.

“This perception is inaccurate and does not reflect MCMC’s and social media platforms’ operations,” MCMC said.

It added that it will only submit requests to social media platforms when content is believed to have breached their community standards, the CMA 1998, or other Malaysian laws.

Advertisement

“The decisions to remove content is based on social media platforms’ own assessments,” it said.

As of June 13, MCMC said that 53 per cent of the online content removal requests by MCMC across all platforms were related to online gambling.

“Additionally, 19 per cent involved online scams, 15 per cent was identified as fake news, 6 per cent were related to race, religion, and royalty (3Rs), and 5 per cent involved harassment.

MCMC stressed that the content removal request was part of the ongoing efforts to protect the public from harmful and illegal activities.

“Ensuring a safe online environment is a shared goal between MCMC and social media platforms. To this end, social media platforms routinely and consistently perform proactive removal themselves against content that violates their community standards.

“For example, public data from one of the social media platforms indicated that 1.8 million pieces of content in Malaysia were proactively removed by the platform itself in Q4 2023, without any prior request by the authorities, for various violations.

“These include content promoting bullying and harassment, privacy violations, hate speech, misinformation, spam, coordinated inauthentic behaviour, misinformation that directly contribute to interference with the functioning of the political process and certain highly deceptive manipulated media,” it said.

Although criticisms of the government or politicians are allowed, MCMC said there are legal limitations to media freedom, particularly when it comes to sensitive issues such as race, religion, and royalty.

“We invite the public, civil societies and the media to continue our engagements and collaborations toward creating a safe and secure online environment,” it added.