Fahmi: UK riots show online disinformation should not be taken lightly, MCMC urged to discuss social media regulation with UK’s Ofcom

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 — The riots in the United Kingdom, fuelled by bad actors via social media, show that online misinformation cannot be taken lightly, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said today.

Noting calls from local MPs for social media platforms to follow the same standards as newspapers and television stations, Fahmi said Putrajaya was also looking into the issue.

“The MCMC has already spoken to its counterpart or a similar regulator in the UK, which is Ofcom. But I will ask the MCMC to come back to them to get their views,” he told a news conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Fahmi was referring to Malaysia’s online regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, and its British counterpart, the Office of Communications.

“This makes us realise that we cannot take the issue of the spread of fake news lightly,” he said, citing as an example the wide circulation of “extreme” materials related to the “3Rs” (race, religion, royalty) on social media platforms after the 15th general elections in 2022.

“In Malaysia, at least, we have had many discussions with social media platforms to ensure that they are also proactive and help limit the spread of fake news, especially those that attempt to relate to or be linked to the ‘3Rs’ issues,” he said.

Fahmi also said that the Cabinet discussed the issue today as many Malaysians live, study or work in the UK, and that the Cabinet was informed that the situation in the UK was under control and was also reviewing the British government’s efforts to ensure public safety.

Regarding Monday’s meeting with three representatives of social media company Meta Platforms Inc regarding the removal of several posts by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on social media platforms Facebook and Instagram regarding late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Fahmi said he concluded that Meta’s representatives were “ill-prepared” for the meeting.

Fahmi said this was because Meta representatives appeared hesitant and said they had no knowledge when asked about three posts deleted from Anwar’s account, and that these representatives did not come with any documents regarding the deletion of these posts.

“While we received feedback yesterday or a few days ago from Meta and their commitment to ensuring that such incidents do not happen again, we were also told that community guidelines, especially for Facebook, are frequently changed or improved, sometimes after a day,” he said, adding that this means that what was discussed or informed in this meeting could likely be changed in the future.

But Fahmi said the government had asked Meta to immediately pass on information to the Prime Minister’s Office, if there is any information that the Prime Minister’s Office should be aware of.

Fahmi said Meta gave the example of the Arabic word “syahid” – meaning “martyr” – which was previously not allowed on Facebook but was later allowed to be used in regions of Asia or the Middle East because it is a common word in those regions.

Fahmi said Meta was asked if they had staff who knew the national language among the social media content moderators, as many posts in Malaysia, such as those of the prime minister, are usually made in Bahasa Malaysia, but said Meta simply said they had moderators who knew the national language and that some of the social media content was removed via artificial intelligence (AI).

“Until Monday’s meeting, we have not had specific information on what actually caused the removal of the content posted on the Prime Minister’s Facebook and Instagram, but Meta said they are ready to continue discussing, receiving feedback and input from the Malaysian government,” he said.

Yesterday, Meta apologized in a statement for an “operational error” that saw content from Anwar’s Facebook and Instagram pages removed, and said the content has since been restored with the correct news label.