Malaysia to work with Meta on wiping ‘undesirable content’ from Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp

Social media giant Meta is set to help Malaysian police combat online crime and remove controversial posts touching on race, religion and royalty

Online gambling was another major concern, said Malaysia’s communications ministry, which had earlier appeared to threaten Meta with legal action

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Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are all owned and operated by parent company Meta, which has agreed to work with Malaysian police to tackle online scams and remove “undesirable content” from its platforms. Photo: AP

Published: 2:30pm, 5 Jul 2023Updated: 3:31pm, 5 Jul 2023

Facebook parent company Meta has agreed to work with police in Malaysia to tackle online scams and remove “undesirable content” from its platforms, the Communications and Digital Ministry said – after threatening the tech giant, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, with legal action.

In a statement issued late on Tuesday, communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said Meta representatives had joined a meeting at police headquarters and pledged to work with enforcement agencies to combat rampant online crime and posts contravening the “3Rs” – race, religion and royalty.

“I believe with this cooperation, crimes like scams, online gambling and ‘3R’ issues on Meta’s platform can be curtailed,” the minister said in the statement, posted on Facebook.

The apparent agreement followed a legal threat by the ministry’s enforcement arm, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which accused the Silicon Valley outfit of a “sluggish and unsatisfactory” response to comply with its request to remove content deemed to have crossed the “3R” red lines – singling Facebook out in particular for being “plagued by a significant volume of undesirable content” in a statement last month.

Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysia’s communications and multimedia minister, said he thought that issues related to “crimes like scams, online gambling and ‘3R’ issues” on Meta’s platforms could be curtailed under the agreement. Photo: Facebook/Fahmi Fadzil

Meta did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.