PUTRAJAYA, Jan 8 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil today clarified that the recent issue raised by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg regarding the tech giant’s relationship with PolitiFact pertains solely to content in the United States and does not affect Malaysia.

Citing the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Fahmi said Meta does not have any political fact-checking relationship with any local entities or companies.

"To my knowledge, and according to MCMC’s information, Meta does not have any such arrangement with any body or company in Malaysia,” he said during the ministry’s weekly press conference here this afternoon.

The minister added that although Malaysia does not currently have a political fact-checking body like in the US, Meta’s new crowdsourced Community Notes initiative could offer a useful method for managing content on platforms like Facebook.

He also noted that this approach has both pros and cons.

Fahmi added that Meta had not reached out to either him or MCMC for clarification on the Community Notes programme.

"If necessary, we will reach out to Meta for more details. However, I do not see this having any impact on the Malaysian market. It is more relevant to the US,” he said.

Yesterday, Zuckerberg announced significant changes to Meta’s moderation policies, citing evolving political and social dynamics.

He revealed that Meta would be discontinuing its partnership with fact-checking organisations and would instead implement a community-driven model similar to X’s Community Notes.