90 Per Cent Of Online Takedown Requests Complied With - Teo

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (Bernama) -- Ninety per cent of 115,161 requests to remove online content were complied with in the first two months of this year, Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching told the Dewan Rakyat.

Of the total, 103,986 takedown requests were executed under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Under the Online Safety Act 2025 (ONSA), 31 of 32 cases were removed, covering various offences.

“Among the content fully taken down were four cases of financial fraud, six involving obscene harassment and three related to immoral content.

“Ten of 11 cases involving threatening or insulting harassment were also removed, along with eight instances of hate speech deemed disruptive to public order,” she said during Question Time.

Teo was responding to a supplementary question from Suhaizan Kaiat (PH-Kulai) on compliance statistics and trends following two months of the deeming provision under ONSA, which came into force on Jan 1.

While the new licensing framework remains in its early stages, Teo described the compliance rate among service providers as encouraging.

“It is too early to determine a downward trend in 3R (religion, race and royalty) content and hate speech. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission will continue to monitor the situation,” she said.

In reply to Dr Halimah Ali (PN-Kapar) on cross-border jurisdiction involving foreign digital platforms, Teo said social media companies are required under the deeming provision to appoint a local representative in Malaysia as a condition of licensing.

“Five licence holders have complied so far, namely Meta Services, which operates Facebook and Instagram; X Corp; Google; Telegram Messenger; and TikTok.

“The appointment of local representatives enables the Malaysian government to initiate criminal or civil proceedings by serving legal documents through the designated representatives,” she added.

-- BERNAMA