[UPDATED] Tighter digital content regulation on cards to curb online harm: MCMC

KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is looking to enforce stricter regulatory oversight and intervention measures to curb online criminal exploitation and threats to public harmony.

In a statement, MCMC chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din said that steps towards reviewing the current self-regulatory framework are necessary to protect the public’s interest and users’ welfare, noting that the commission will not hesitate to take action against those who violate the law. 

Salim said the commission will not tolerate the continuation and escalation of abuse on online platforms and telecommunications, networks, or online facilities for the purposes of facilitating scams, malicious cyber activities, fraud, and phishing.

Such misdeeds, he said, could threaten racial stability, religious harmony and show contempt for the royal institution.

“We will act against those who violate the laws. MCMC, as a member of NSRC (the National Scam Response Centre), together with the Royal Malaysia Police, Bank Negara Malaysia, and National Anti-Financial Crime Centre, aims to continue our joint efforts in combating such fraud issues via such stern actions against the offenders,” he said.

In the statement, MCMC said there is an increasing level of content being exploited by criminals and those seeking to threaten public safety and national harmony.

“Some over-the-top applications and social media platforms have not been effective at self-regulating the use of their platforms in line with Malaysia’s laws and national interests,” the commission said.

According to MCMC, the concern comes after an increasing number of scams have been observed.

It said since the inception of NSRC in October 2022, a total of 11,858 scam complaints have been received as of April this year. 

Meanwhile, statistics obtained from the police force’s commercial crime investigation department for the period between 2021 and April 2023 revealed losses resulting from scams amounted to RM1.2 billion. 

In the meantime, from 2021 to April 2023, MCMC has received 2,125 reports of fake news. Upon reviewing the number of abuses and harm caused by scams – left unchecked by platform providers – MCMC strongly recommends regulatory oversight and intervention to curb this issue. 

“Such intervention should include imposing and enforcing obligations on those who operate such platforms and those who profit from digitalisation to take strong and verifiable measures to ensure that their platforms or networks are not used as a forum to break Malaysia’s laws or threaten the public interest,” it said.

“Industry peers and regulators in Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia have recently or are in the process of enacting laws to regulate and criminalise fraudsters on some of these platforms and to hold accountable those platforms that fail to follow government directives by allowing malicious activities such as advertising scams on their platforms or taking insufficient steps to curb such activities.”

NSRC is a joint effort between MCMC, the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre, Royal Malaysia Police, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the banking industry and telecommunication companies. – The Vibes, May 12, 2023