KUALA LUMPUR: Social media platforms may face penalties or legal action if they fail to remove inappropriate posts following Malaysia's social media licensing requirements next year.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said this will be stipulated in the Online Safety Act (Onsa), which is scheduled for its first reading in Parliament soon.
"Under current laws, we can address any violations through the Communications and Multimedia Act, but once Onsa is enforced, platforms could face penalties or brought to court.
"But I don't want to get ahead because we have to present it in Parliament," he told reporters after extending Deepavali aid to former media members in Batu Caves today.
Earlier today, the New Straits Times reported that the authorities are on high alert following the discovery of several social media groups that appear to be promoting the sexual grooming of children.
These groups, which have thousands of members, often contained sexually overt postings with pictures of children or pre-teens.
Checks by the NST found some of these groups have been operating for years, with one even dating back to 2014.
One such active group that the NST sighted, which was dedicated to primary schoolchildren, was created in May 2014 and had around 4,600 members.
Fahmi said since there were no licensing requirements for social media platforms at the moment, Malaysia would have to follow the standard community guidelines for platforms like Facebook and the community guidelines for platforms including TikTok.
"To be honest, these platforms do not need to take any action even if the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission issues directives because there has been no prior legal authority.
"So, once they are licensed to operate in Malaysia, they will need to comply with certain directives.
"An upcoming bill set to be tabled in Parliament soon is the Onsa which will emphasise not only content moderation, such as removing content that violates the law but also content curation.
"This means that these platforms have a duty of care to ensure that content violating our country's laws has no place, requiring them to take more proactive measures," he said.
Fahmi added that many countries, including the United Kingdom, are moving towards content curation, where emphasis is placed on social media platforms to go beyond merely responding to user reports and complaints from the public.
"We are heading in that direction," Fahmi said.