Malaysia changes its mind about suing Meta for its damaging material

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Following “positive” interaction with the company on addressing harmful information on the social media platform, Malaysia may decide against moving through with a plan to sue Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META.O), according to communications minister Fahmi Fadzil in an interview on Friday.

As a result of Meta’s failure to take action against “undesirable” information pertaining to race, royalty, religion, defamation, impersonation, online gambling, and scam marketing, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced last month that it will file a lawsuit against Meta.

In order to address such posts on its platforms, Fahmi said that Meta has now made a solid commitment to cooperate with Malaysian authorities, including the regulator and the police.

“I don’t believe MCMC needs to file any legal claims right now. I think this degree of collaboration is really encouraging,” he said, adding that the government was thinking about taking action, like fining social media companies, if they didn’t remove bad information.

With an estimated 60% of Malaysia’s 33 million population having a registered account, Facebook is the largest social media network in the nation.

Fahmi rejected worries about heightened governmental inspection of internet material and denied giving instructions to shut down many news sites and social media accounts recently linked to the opposition.

He said that the takedowns were probably undertaken in response to complaints from regular users who believed the content had violated social media policies.

The interruptions coincided with Malaysia’s preparations for regional elections that would put Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government against a hardline Malay-Muslim alliance later this month.

The government did not seek to stifle free speech, but it did draw a line at material that addressed issues of race, religion, and royalty, according to Fahmi.
He stated, “I think they’re being a little bit theatrical when they suggest that we are an iron-fisted dictatorship.

In Malaysia, where the bulk of the population are primarily Muslim ethnic Malays and there are sizable Chinese and Indian minorities, race and religion are contentious topics.

Additionally, Malaysia has rules that forbid insults directed against its sultans, who serve mostly as ceremonial leaders. This month, a member of the opposition was accused of sedition for allegedly criticizing them.

Separately, Fahmi stated that as part of the government’s aim to break the monopoly held by state-owned 5G agency Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), Malaysia’s main telecoms companies will create the nation’s second 5G network.

When coverage reaches 80% of populous regions, the companies—which have agreed to acquire interests in DNB and utilize its network—will split to establish the second 5G organization, according to Fahmi.