KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has received more complaints on cyberbullying than online scams over the past three years.
According to statistics made available to the media, the commission recorded a total of 9,483 reports on cyberbullying from 2022 to this month, while 9,321 complaints were received regarding online scams within the same time frame.
In 2022 and 2023, cyberbullying cases were reported more frequently, with the commission documenting 4,128 before a slight decline to 3,737 instances in the respective years.
In contrast, the number of complaints regarding online scams increased between the two years, with MCMC filing 2,675 reports in 2022 and 4,180 last year.
As of this month, however, the number of online scam cases reported to the commission stands at 2,466 compared with the 1,618 instances of cyberbullying.
Meanwhile, the number of reports on exploitative child sexual content online stands at 143, with the commission recording 51 cases in 2022, 75 complaints in 2023 and 17 for 2024 as of this month.
While the commission did not provide a breakdown of the social media platforms involved in the online crimes, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil earlier said the Elon Musk-owned social media site X recorded the lowest compliance rate with Putrajaya’s requests for action against harmful content.
The minister said the platform came “last in class” with a compliance rate of merely 25%, despite MCMC raising concerns on issues such as cyberbullying and pornographic content.
According to information provided by the ministry to the media, X’s policy on pornographic content, its handling of race, religion and royalty (3R) issues, as well as child grooming and cyberbullying matters, are some of the concerns MCMC has with the platform.
Platforms with a less than 79% compliance rate, Fahmi said, are deemed to have unsatisfactorily handled matters related to online crimes.
Both TikTok and Telegram also marked under 79% compliance, with the two platforms recording 76% and 65%, respectively.
The minister also said the cabinet had today decided that police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and MCMC will take immediate action to streamline and strengthen investigation and prosecution procedures for online crimes. – July 24, 2024