More than 5,000 online gambling websites have been blocked with the cooperation of internet service providers from 2022 until Feb 1, says Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
During the oral question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Feb 13), Fahmi revealed that 2,906 gambling-related posts—93.14% of the reported cases—were removed from Facebook alone, highlighting the platform as a major hub for online gambling advertisements.
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During the oral question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Feb 13), Fahmi revealed that 2,906 gambling-related posts—93.14% of the reported cases—were removed from Facebook alone, highlighting the platform as a major hub for online gambling advertisements.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/5n7cvvcu
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00The accusation is under Article 289 of the Malaysian Royal Police.
00:11The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, or MCMC,
00:16under Article 588 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission,
00:22is committed to cooperate with the PDRM
00:25in terms of reducing the content of social media,
00:28breaches of confidentiality and technical assistance,
00:32such as providing information and digital forensic analysis
00:36to speed up the investigation process
00:38related to the accusation of fraud in the media.
00:41MCMC conducts proactive monitoring
00:44to ensure that the internet environment in Malaysia
00:47is free of content in the media that violates the law,
00:51including content of fraud in the media.
00:54From 2022 to 1 February 2025,
00:585,026 cases of fraud have been reduced
01:03with the cooperation of internet providers,
01:06while 224,403 cases of fraud have been reduced on social media platforms.
01:13Of this number, 209,006 cases of fraud
01:19representing 93.14% of the total number I mentioned earlier
01:25have been reduced from Facebook platforms only.
01:28This means that Facebook is the hub of gambling ads in the media.
01:34To ensure a safer and more sustainable internet ecosystem for all users,
01:40MCMC has obligated every social media provider and internet messenger
01:45that has at least 8 million registered users in Malaysia
01:49to request an application service license
01:54under the 1998 Multimedia and Communications Act
01:58starting 1 January 2025.
02:01This step is aimed at ensuring that
02:03every registered internet and social media messenger
02:08complies with the obligations under the 1998 Multimedia and Communications Act
02:12and follows the best practice
02:16that has been established by MCMC
02:18and further increases accountability
02:21for the content and interaction in the content provided to users.
02:25MCMC has also carried out a continuous management session
02:29with all social media platform providers
02:32to provide co-operation between platform providers and regulators.
02:38Through these management sessions,
02:40platform providers can understand the context of the place
02:43in terms of values, norms of society, and laws
02:47that may not comply with their community standards and terms and conditions.
02:52This effort contributes to the improvement of birth control work
02:57by platform providers
03:00and makes it more efficient and effective.
03:04Okay, Mr. Lengas.
03:08Thank you for your answer, Mr. Minister.
03:11Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
03:14My additional question is,
03:16has the government also devised a special strategy
03:20to cover up a little bit of gambling on the internet
03:23that misuses AI technology
03:27such as deepfake to cover up the faces
03:30and voices of leaders or influencers
03:35so as to empower many gambling victims in Thailand
03:39as well as whether or not the power has been taken away from them.
03:44Next, has the government also identified
03:47effective strategies
03:49in controlling the modus operandi of illegal gambling
03:55that can be used by social media influencers
04:00to promote illegal gambling in Thailand to the public?
04:05That's all. Thank you.
04:06Thank you, Mr. Minister.
04:08In relation to this matter,
04:09some of the actions have been taken by the Ministry of Health
04:13while for the Ministry of Communications, especially the Ministry of Communications,
04:17several steps have been taken,
04:19including by withdrawing what is called an exemption order
04:27that requires all platforms that meet the requirements,
04:31such as the ones I mentioned earlier,
04:33to register with MCMC.
04:36We have found that there are several platforms
04:38that are often misused,
04:40not for the purpose of gambling itself,
04:44but to advertise gambling.
04:47And what you mentioned earlier,
04:50it's not gambling, but it's a scam.
04:53As we know, based on what has been announced by the Ministry of Communications,
04:59especially the Ministry of Commerce,
05:02there are about 12-13 types of scams,
05:05including advertisements.
05:09Usually, deepfakes are directed towards investment scams.
05:15So we have had a discussion
05:19because several platforms do not understand
05:23that some of these aspects are a violation of the laws in our country.
05:29At the same time, platforms such as Facebook have cooperated
05:33and have begun to implement several steps,
05:39including introducing several tools
05:44that can determine whether a person is an individual or not.
05:51This is a result of the problem of impersonation with permission.
05:57They sometimes take faces and names,
06:02but this is still being dealt with.
06:06And I expect that because AI is being misused,
06:16certain platforms will also try to deal with such problems.
06:28Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
06:30Thank you for the answer given by the Minister.
06:33So I would like to ask,
06:35how can the registration and licensing of all social media platforms
06:40that have 8 million users in Malaysia,
06:43increase the ability to prevent illegal gambling in this area?
06:51Because since we still have to report to the platform,
06:56then the action will be taken.
06:58With this, the problem will not be solved with higher efficiency.
07:04So I would like to ask for clarification from the Minister,
07:07how with registration or licensing,
07:12the efficiency and effectiveness have been increased.
07:19Since we started the process and the licensing regime,
07:25we have found many platforms that provide different responses.
07:31Some are very willing to cooperate,
07:35some are reluctant,
07:37and even give various excuses to delay the process.
07:49But in general, I will give an example.
07:53For example, in a platform like YouTube,
07:59where we get a lot of gambling ads,
08:06from January 1st until midnight,
08:125,167 births have been planted to be laid,
08:18and 5,115 have been downloaded by YouTube.
08:24This means that even though Google has not yet been licensed,
08:28but we see that the cooperation they provide is very good.
08:32Unlike Telegram,
08:35where only 39% of the requests are handled.
08:45And here we see that the platforms also have different solutions.
08:50As far as I understand,
08:52the number of teams that do content moderation with licensing
08:57for Telegram is very small,
08:59different from other platforms.
09:01So here we see that not only the control framework is important,
09:06but also understanding the context of operations for these platforms,
09:10and also helping them to organize and facilitate actions to be taken.
09:17Sometimes it involves additional documents,
09:19sometimes it involves messages that need to be sent to certain staff.
09:25But in general, I see a better cooperation from all platforms,
09:31whether they have been licensed or are still in the process.