Strict action to be taken to curb online harm - MCMC
FARHANA ABD KADIR
SHAH ALAM - The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will take strict actions following the increase in digital content exploitation by criminals who disrupt public safety and harmony.
It chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din said there were several over-the-top (OTT) applications on social media that fail to regulate the usage in line with the national interests and legislation.
He added that the framework obtained by the federal police Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) between 2021 and April 2023 revealed that the total losses through scams reached RM1.2 billion and fake news during the same duration reported to the MCMC were as much as 2,125 cases.
"Since the establishment of the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) in October 2022 a total of 11,858 complaints related to scams were received as of April 2023.
"After carefully observing abuse and threat cases brought up due to the hands-off approach of the platform providers, MCMC viewed that there's a need for enforcement of obligations on its operators.
"Parties benefiting from the digitisation must take strict measures to ensure their operating network is not being used as a forum to violate national laws or threaten public interests," he said in a statement today.
He said the regulatory approach to implement a higher level of monitoring through regulatory instruments such as in Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia to ensure fraudulent activities in some platforms were subjected to restrictions.
He said it included the review of exemptions towards certain activities in addition to imposing criminal sanction and punitive orders against entities refusing to take immediate measures in ensuring criminal activities occurring on their networks were stopped.
"Joint actions and efforts taken by MCMC are important towards ensuring the society is protected and has a safe digital environment.
"The measures will ensure a higher sense of responsibility and respect towards national sovereignty and at the same time strengthen the protection of users against online harm including scams and fraudulent activities," he said.
