Malaysia has announced its intention to pursue legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for its alleged failure to remove "undesirable" content from its platform, CNN reports. The move represents the strongest measure taken by the country thus far to address such content.
Since the closely contested national election held last year, ethnic tensions have been on the rise in Malaysia. In response, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's administration, which assumed power in November, has been determined to crack down on what it considers provocative posts that touch on race and religion.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission stated that Facebook has been plagued by a significant volume of undesirable content involving topics such as race, royalty, religion, defamation, impersonation, online gambling, and scam advertisements. Despite repeated requests from the commission, Meta has purportedly failed to take sufficient action, prompting the need for legal measures to promote cybersecurity accountability and safeguard consumers.
At the time of writing, neither Meta nor the commission had provided an immediate response regarding the potential legal actions to be taken.
In Malaysia, race and religion are sensitive subjects, with the majority Muslim ethnic Malays coexisting alongside significant ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities. Criticism of the country's revered royal family is also a delicate matter, as negative remarks can be subject to sedition laws.
The timing of the action against Facebook is quite surprising, as regional elections in six states are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks. These elections are expected to pit Anwar's multi-ethnic coalition against a conservative Malay Muslim alliance.
With an estimated 60% of Malaysia's 33mn population having registered accounts, Facebook holds a dominant position as the country's largest social media platform. Globally, major social media companies, including Meta, Google's YouTube, and TikTok, face regular regulatory scrutiny regarding content posted on their platforms. Governments across Southeast Asia have frequently requested the takedown of specific content.
In 2020, Vietnam threatened to shut down Facebook unless it complied with government pressure to censor more local political content. Vietnamese authorities reported that social media platforms operating in the country had removed over 3,200 posts and videos during the first quarter of that year, citing false information and violations of the country's laws.
Similarly, in Indonesia in 2019, Facebook removed numerous local accounts, pages, and groups associated with a fake news syndicate.
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