Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil has described as “very worrying” a Reuters report alleging that social media giant Meta made profits from illegal online activities, including scam and gambling advertisements.
He said it was the first time that Malaysia has seen an international media report estimating the scale of Meta’s alleged earnings from such activities.
“If this is true, this is very worrying, because it gives the impression that one of the sources of profit for Meta is illegal activity that violates the law, including in Malaysia,” he told a weekly press conference after the Cabinet meeting today.
Fahmi said the report was “very explosive” and that the government would open an investigation and summon Meta for a full explanation.
Between Jan 1 and Oct 15, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission spent the equivalent of 22.2 years’ worth of work hours requesting content removals from Meta, he said.
“We should send Meta a bill for all the work that we are doing on their behalf,” he said.
Reuters reported that internal Meta documents had indicated that about 10% of the company’s 2024 revenue came from ads promoting scams and banned goods.
One December 2024 document it reviewed reportedly noted that Meta served an estimated 15 billion “high-risk” scam ads a day, earning around US$7 billion annually from that category.
In light of this, Fahmi said, the upcoming Online Safety Bill will make it legally binding for platforms like Meta to prevent scam, fraud and gambling content from appearing in Malaysia.
“If they fail, action can be taken against them,” he said.
