PUTRAJAYA, Sept 22 — Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has come under fire from the Malaysian government for failing to fully tackle online criminal activities on its platforms, Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said today.
The statement followed a high-level meeting at the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) that included representatives from the Royal Malaysia Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Home and Finance Ministries, the National Financial Crime Prevention Centre (NFCC), and the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa).
“The meeting focused on critical issues involving Meta platforms, particularly Facebook, including online gambling, scams, the spread of fake news, content offensive to religion, race and royal institutions, as well as the sale of illegal products such as e-liquids containing drugs,” the minister said.
Fahmi added that up to September 19 this year, 168,774 content removal requests were submitted to Meta for Facebook alone — representing 59 per cent of total requests across all social media platforms, making it the platform with the highest number of complaints.
Of these, 120,127 requests were related to online gambling, but only 114,665 pieces of content were removed.
For scams, 37,722 requests were lodged, with 36,918 content items taken down.
The remaining content continues to circulate, raising serious concerns.
Police statistics also show that e-commerce scams on Meta’s platforms — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — from 2023 to August 2025 resulted in cumulative losses of more than RM248 million, involving 18,128 cases.
The figure indicates that Meta has still failed to fully cooperate in combating cybercrime activities.
“Meta’s response remains insufficient in fully cooperating to curb cybercrime,” the minister said, warning that the lack of action hampers authorities’ efforts to protect Malaysians from growing online threats.
However, Meta has pledged to enhance its monitoring and cooperation to ensure illegal content is dealt with more effectively.
The government has also urged Meta and other social media platforms to implement stricter age and identity verification mechanisms — such as using MyKad or MyDigital ID — to prevent minors from opening accounts.
Current systems have been deemed ineffective in restricting underage users and shielding them from harmful content, the statement read.
“The Madani government will not compromise on digital safety. All social media platforms must take greater responsibility to ensure content that violates Malaysian laws is promptly removed,” the minister said adding that the Communications Ministry, together with enforcement agencies, will strengthen monitoring measures and is considering further action if Meta does not improve its level of cooperation.
