PETALING JAYA: Over 40,000 pieces of AI-created disinformation content, including deepfake investment scams, have been taken down by social media platforms in Malaysia at the request of the government over the last three years, says the Communications Ministry.
According to data from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the ministry said 41,394 AI-created disinformation posts have been removed from these platforms between Jan 1, 2022 and Aug 15.
It added that 1,005 deepfake investment scam postings were also removed in the same period.
“While the formal takedown requests were made by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the final decision to remove the content was subject to each social media platform’s own community guidelines and compliance with Malaysian law.
“We are also continuing to actively collaborate with social media platforms and enforcement agencies to curb the spread of false information stemming from the use of AI,” the ministry said in a parliamentary written reply dated Thursday (Aug 28).
To help curb online disinformation as a whole, the ministry said it plans to establish an Online Safety Committee in the future to advise and provide recommendations to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission on online safety issues, adding that the committee will be managed by the Law Ministry.
It added that it was also currently studying the need to have service providers implement automatic content labelling for AI-created content.
“This initiative aims to help users identify potentially misleading, manipulative or inaccurate content, in line with efforts to reduce the risk of misinformation or harmful content spreading online,” the ministry added.
The ministry was responding to a question from Jalaluddin Alias on the measures being taken or considered to control the production of misleading or fake AI content in Malaysia.
