KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — 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.
A further 31 out of 31 cases were removed under the Online Safety Act 2025 (ONSA), 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 the question and answer session.
Teo was responding to a supplementary question from Kulai MP Suhaizan Kaiat on compliance statistics and trends following two months of the deeming provision under ONSA, which came into force on January 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 (MCMC) will continue to monitor the situation,” she said.
In reply to Kapar MP Dr Halimah Ali 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."
