Meta told to do more to fight online crime in Malaysia
Government flags insufficient content removal despite high volume of complaints.
Key points:
– Over 120,000 online gambling-related removal requests submitted
– Meta platforms linked to RM248m (US$52.7m) in fraud losses since 2023
– Authorities demand stronger cooperation from Meta
The Malaysian Government has raised serious concerns with Meta over its failure to adequately address unlawful content on its platforms, particularly on Facebook. Officials flagged the persistence of online gambling, scam networks, disinformation and illegal product sales despite repeated takedown requests, as reported by The New Straits Times.
Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said that as of September 19, the government submitted 168,774 content removal requests to Meta for Facebook alone, accounting for 59% of all such requests across social media platforms.
Of these, 120,127 were linked to online gambling, yet only 114,665 pieces were removed. Similarly, Meta took down just 36,918 of the 37,722 scam-related posts reported to the platform.
Fahmi criticised Meta for its slow and partial response, stating that the company’s actions have hindered efforts to tackle cybercrime and safeguard Malaysian internet users. He stressed that while Meta has committed to improving its response, more concrete actions are needed to ensure digital safety.
Good to know: Police figures show e-commerce scams across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp resulted in losses exceeding RM248m from 2023 to August 2025, with 18,128 cases recorded
The issues were discussed in a high-level meeting attended by Meta representatives and officials from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the police Criminal Investigation and Commercial Crime Investigation departments and several government ministries.
Officials also expressed concern about the spread of race, religion and royalty (3R) content and the online sale of drug-laced vapes. The Government emphasised the need for platforms to take greater responsibility in ensuring harmful content is effectively removed and does not resurface.
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