Malaysia Urges ASEAN Unity To Strengthen Fight Against Online Crime

By Kenny Teng Khoon Hock

BANGKOK, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is urging ASEAN countries to unite in a concerted effort to strengthen their negotiating power with global social media giants, aiming to more effectively combat the growing problem of online crime in the region.

Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said the 10-member ASEAN bloc should collaborate to adopt specific types of online social media regulations to combat online crime.

"We understand that all ASEAN members are facing the same problem, and the challenges we face are also similar.

“Instead of one individual country trying to deal with the platform provider who are tech giant...it should be a concerted effort by ASEAN. I think we (Malaysia) would like to engage all the member countries in ASEAN to talk about how we can make the decision collectively,” she told Bernama after her two-day working visit here Friday.

Teo hoped that this would be one of the key agenda items during the ASEAN Summit, scheduled for October in Laos.

Meanwhile, Teo shared that last year alone in Malaysia, RM1.2 billion was lost visa online scam and about 6,000 posts or content with scam element was taken down.

This year, she said as of the end of June, 24,000 posts or contents with scam element has been taken down, while losses amounted to RM600 million.

“We can see that constantly taking down posts are not effective as we don’t know how many people has become victims.

“Why should we be asking them (platform providers) to take down content? Instead, they should do better screening before allowing this type of content to be posted, especially when they are taking money from scammers to boost the posts to general users,” she said.

She emphasised that platform providers should not simply wash their hands of the issue but should be held responsible in the same way as traditional media.

“When someone posts or advertises counterfeit products in traditional media, they must be held liable, and the same responsibility should apply to online platform providers,” she said.

On Thursday, Teo led a Malaysian delegation to the China Mobile Southeast Asia Cooperation Conference and visited Southeast Asia’s largest tech and startup hub, True Digital Park, in Thailand’s capital.

On Friday, the delegation, which includes Chief Strategy Officer of Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) Datuk Ahmad Zaki Zahid and a member of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Derek John Fernandez, visited Thailand’s telecommunication regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.

-- BERNAMA