KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — Malaysia may not go through with a plan to take legal action against Facebook parent Meta Platforms following “positive” engagement with the firm on tackling harmful content on the social media platform, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said in an interview yesterday.
“I don’t think MCMC needs at this point in time to initiate any legal action. I think this level of cooperation is very positive,” he said, adding that the government was considering measures such as fines against social media platforms if they failed to tackle harmful content. The take-downs, he said, were likely to have been made in response to complaints made by ordinary users for violating social media guidelines.
“Those who cry out, saying that we are an iron-fisted dictatorship, I think they’re being a tad bit dramatic,” he said.