Govt wants Meta to inform it of important guideline changes

The government has requested that Meta inform it of any important changes in community guidelines, especially on Facebook.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said this is because Meta told the government in a recent meeting that its community guidelines are frequently updated.

“So, what was discussed… might change tomorrow, the day after, and so on.

“If there is anything appropriate that we, especially the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), need to understand, we requested for that information to be conveyed immediately,” he said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Yesterday, Fahmi said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim accepted Meta’s apology over the removal of the premier’s social media posts regarding slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

He said this was despite the “poor explanation” by Meta representatives on the matter.

Speaking further on Meta being “ill-prepared” for the meeting, which was held on Monday (Aug 5), Fahmi today said the social media provider’s representatives did not bring any documents with them.

“If you look at the pictures published by the PMO for the media, they show that the three Meta representatives did not bring with them any documents or printed materials to discuss the removed contents,” he said.

He claimed this caused them to be unable to answer questions about the removed posts in detail.

Instead, Fahmi said the representatives attributed the removal to artificial intelligence technology.

In an earlier statement, Meta apologised for removing content from Anwar’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, citing an “operational error”.

The deleted posts were about Anwar meeting Ismail in May, and the prime minister condemning the killing of the Hamas leader last week.

Meta then restored Anwar and other politicians’ deleted posts regarding Ismail on its platforms.

Content moderation

Meanwhile, Fahmi pointed to the riots in the United Kingdom as an example of why social media platforms need to moderate content posted by users.

He said he would advise the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to get in touch with its counterparts in the UK to obtain their views.

“In Malaysia, at least we have held many discussions with social media platforms to ensure they are proactive and help in curbing the spread of fake news, especially those related to 3R (royalty, race, and religion),” he added.

A series of riots spread across the UK last weekend in response to the fatal stabbing of three children by a 17-year-old youth at a dance school in Southport, Merseyside, on Monday, and the subsequent online misinformation regarding the perpetrator.

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