Malaysia reverses plan to take legal action against Meta over harmful content By Reuters

© Reuters. Malaysian Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil speaks throughout an interview at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia July 28, 2023. REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain

(Corrects spelling of ‘conservative’ in paragraph 8)

By Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysia might not undergo with a plan to take authorized motion in opposition to Fb (NASDAQ:) father or mother Meta Platforms following “optimistic” engagement with the agency on tackling dangerous content material on the social media platform, communications minister Fahmi Fadzil stated in an interview on Friday.

Final month, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Fee (MCMC) stated it might take authorized motion in opposition to Meta for failing to behave in opposition to “undesirable” content material regarding race, royalty, faith, defamation, impersonation, on-line playing, and rip-off ads.

Fahmi stated Meta had since given a agency dedication to work with Malaysian authorities, together with the regulator and the police, to sort out such posts on its platforms.

“I do not assume MCMC wants at this time limit to provoke any authorized motion. I believe this stage of cooperation could be very optimistic,” he stated, including that the federal government was contemplating measures reminiscent of fines in opposition to social media platforms in the event that they didn’t sort out dangerous content material.

Fb is Malaysia’s largest social media platform, with an estimated 60% of the nation’s 33 million individuals having a registered account.

Fahmi dismissed issues raised over elevated authorities scrutiny of on-line content material, and denied issuing orders to take down a number of opposition-linked information websites and social media accounts in current weeks.

The take-downs, he stated, have been prone to have been made in response to complaints made by unusual customers for violating social media pointers.

The outages got here as Malaysia prepares to carry regional elections subsequent month that can pit Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration in opposition to a conservative Malay-Muslim alliance.

The federal government didn’t intend to curb freedom of expression, however drew the road at content material concerning race, faith, and royalty, Fahmi stated.

“Those that cry out, saying that we’re an iron-fisted dictatorship, I believe they’re being a tad bit dramatic,” he stated.

Race and faith are thorny points in Malaysia, which has a majority of primarily Muslim ethnic Malays alongside important Chinese language and Indian minorities.

Malaysia additionally has legal guidelines prohibiting insults in opposition to its sultans, who play a largely ceremonial function. An opposition determine was charged this month with sedition for allegedly insulting them.

Individually, Fahmi stated Malaysia’s main telecommunications corporations will type the nation’s second 5G community, as a part of the federal government’s plan to finish a monopoly held by state-owned 5G company Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB).

The corporations, which have agreed to take up stakes in DNB and use its community, will cut up to type the second 5G entity when protection reaches 80% of populated areas, Fahmi stated.