KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil today told messaging providers such as WhatsApp and Telegram to crack down on criminal activities on their platforms.
He said this is to ensure a safer space for Malaysians to use, especially parents and teachers, amid complaints of sexual grooming, pornography distribution and online scams.
“There are many applications that are used such as WhatsApp and Telegram, we found that D11 from the police informed us that the WhatsApp application is widely misused for the sexual grooming of children.
“At the same time, Telegram was also misused before to upload pornography videos. We also get many complaints from ministers and former ministers who get messages from scammers,” he told reporters after an event here.
Fahmi said this matter falls under the scrutiny of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), to ensure a safer internet.
“These platforms need to be more responsible,” he said.
“If they refuse to ensure that their platforms are free from criminal elements, we need to ensure that they comply with the laws of our country.”
Based on D11’s statistics provided to Malay Mail in January, out of a total of 18,326 child victims of nine different types of sexual crimes in Malaysia reported to police in 2018 to November 30, 2023, half of those victims or 9,203 victims were aged 13 to 15, while nearly a quarter or 4,354 victims were aged 16 to 18.
In March, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Anuar Nasarah told Dewan Negara that a total of 34,497 cases of online scams involving losses of RM1.218 billion were reported nationwide in 2023.
