Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has held a meeting with platform providers TikTok and Meta has asked these two popular social media sites to be more proactive in monitoring harmful content. This follows various viral cases that touch on the 3R issue in recent weeks.
Based on statistics provided by SKMM, there is an increase in harmful content on social media and the Over The Top platform. For the first three months of this year alone, a total of 51,638 cases were extended to online platform providers for further action. This number is high compared to the 42,904 content cases recorded throughout the past year.
Platform providers are also requested to effectively deal with 3R-related content by referring to platform guidelines and Malaysian laws. In addition, TikTok and Meta are urged to curb the content of coordinated inauthentic behavior (Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour), as well as monitor and take immediate action on harmful content such as scams and illegal gambling online.
This is not the first time that KKOM has met with social media operators in Malaysia. In previous meetings, TikTok had promised to do better monitoring to avoid bananas bearing fruit twice. Unfortunately, the knife has borne fruit more than five times and the authorities in Malaysia just held a meeting and gave a warning.
Perhaps in Malaysia a stricter bill like the one implemented in the European Union (EU) needs to be enforced. In Germany, for example, extremist Nazi content needs to be deleted immediately and if repeated, the platform operator can be charged a high fine. Singapore is also strict in monitoring the spread of harmful information online.
In Malaysia, there have been cases of site operators being fined because of ugly comments left by readers. If site operators in Malaysia are fined, why doesn't the same apply to overseas operators? Only KKOM has the answer.