Fahmi Fadzil calls out Meta and X for falling short on curbing online harm

Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil has criticised tech giants Meta and X for failing to take meaningful action against online harms in Malaysia, calling their ongoing reluctance to engage with local regulation “far from satisfactory.”

He said, as quoted by NST, that Facebook, Instagram (under Meta) and X have been giving many excuses. According to the minister, Facebook reportedly said that they would join in on the efforts of the Communications and multimedia content forum of Malaysia (CMCF) after it gets its license, but the minister said, "that's not good enough".

Fahmi added that the tech giants should not be washing their hands of content that causes harm, especially when it involves suicide-related materials. 

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The minister also reportedly said that platforms such as Meta and X have been acting as though they are "above the law" in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia Pacific region. He was quoted saying that when it comes to profit, these companies move fast but sing a different song when it comes to complying with laws.

Speaking at the launch of the suicide content guidelines developed by the CMCF, Fahmi said only TikTok had voluntarily become a member of the forum, a move he praised as exemplary industry behaviour. According to the minister, TikTok took the initiative even before regulators came up with the licensing regime.

According to an FMT report, the CMCF is industry-led, and not government-led. This means that it is in the interest of the tech companies to participate so that they can help develop codes of conduct and best practices for the industry, said Fahmi. 

Meanwhile, as quoted by the Malay Mail, Fahmi said his conversations with regional counterparts revealed a shared frustration with the platforms' unwillingness to cooperate. He added that alongside his APAC counterparts from Indonesia, Australia and Fiji, they found that most of these social media platforms think they are "bigger" than the laws of government of any country. 

To address this, Malaysia is spearheading a regional effort called "Kuala Lumpur declaration on safe and responsible use of social media platforms", which will be formalised at the 47th ASEAN Summit in October. The initiative is aimed at tackling digital harms across the region. Fahmi explained that a collective, regional policy response would be the best method to address this issue of non-compliance among social media companies. 

The remarks came during the launch of CMCF’s Suicide Content Guidelines, which aims to promote ethical and empathetic media coverage around suicide, and to reduce online content that may trigger or glamorise such incidents. The CMCF, an industry-led body that oversees content standards across digital and broadcast media, will also conduct workshops nationwide to help media professionals adopt the new guidelines.

Malaysia’s move to strengthen content regulation comes amid rising suicide rates and escalating online scams. In 2022, the country recorded 1,068 suicide deaths. This is up 66.6% from 641 cases in 2020, while digital scams cost Malaysians RM53.88 billion in 2024 alone.

Fahmi said that a united, multi-stakeholder approach involving platforms, regulators, and the media, is critical. He added that if the region wants to see structural change with regards to content regulation, the whole ecosystem must adopt the right values. 

Earlier in February, Fahmi Fadzil had called on TikTok to comply with local laws regarding content moderation on its platform, after the social media platform blocked 23 accounts belonging to media outlets in the country. Fahmi expressed concern that TikTok is turning a blind eye towards online scams and gambling content, all while expecting local users to comply with their guidelines. He added that the action taken by TikTok against the media outlets’ accounts was too harsh, as it stemmed from a misunderstanding by the content moderation AI. 

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