Fahmi: Meta keeps failing to address paedophilia, sexual grooming

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil expressed his concerns to Meta representatives in a meeting yesterday over the tech giant’s continuous failure to address issues.

He said the issues included paedophilia and child sexual grooming, particularly on Facebook.

“Meta needs to be much more proactive in combating group accounts on its social media platforms that engage in such sexual criminal activities,” he said in a statement today.

The meeting was also attended by Communications Ministry secretary-general Mohamad Fauzi Md Isa, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairperson Mohamad Salim Fateh Din, as well as Meta Southeast Asia Public Policy director Rafael Frankel, who led the Meta team.

According to Fahmi, the discussions focused on the readiness of all parties for licensing regulations for social media platforms and internet messaging systems, which were slated to take effect on Jan 1 next year.

Fahmi, who is also the government’s spokesperson, said that during the meeting, Meta said it had not fully reviewed the Code of Conduct and Online Safety Act, which form part of the licensing requirements.

“I reminded Meta that the government’s intention in imposing this licensing is to address issues of crime that have migrated to social media, including scams, online gambling, cyberbullying, and sexual crimes against children.

“However, I am committed to listening to the views of all social media platforms, as the licence to be issued is a Class License,” he added.

The licensing will apply to all social media platform providers with at least eight million registered users.

Fahmi said Meta also agreed to provide feedback on the draft Code of Conduct published on Oct 22 and will hold further discussions with the MCMC early next week to examine various aspects in more detail.

“I welcome Meta’s willingness to continue collaborating on this licensing issue,” he added.

- Bernama

MCMC's public consultation on social media code of conduct begins

Social media licensing: Many stakeholder consultations have been held - Teo

MCMC seeks to balance challenges in regulating social media

Tech giants no longer call social media licensing 'unworkable'