Social media giants have been kept on their toes lately, pulling down over 43,000 bits of scam content in just the first quarter of this year.
In a news report by Bernama, according to Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching, these removals happened because the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) flagged them, and for the most part, the platforms actually listened to the requests.
If you look at the trajectory, the numbers are honestly a bit staggering. Back in 2023, we were looking at roughly 6,000 removals, but by 2025, that figure had rocketed up to 98,503. It is a massive jump that shows just how much more aggressive these scams are getting, and it is why Teo is pushing for better digital literacy across the board.
Interestingly, the platforms do not always hit the delete button just because the government asks. Out of roughly 255,000 requests sent since 2023, about 212,000 were actually acted upon. It shows there is still a bit of a tug-of-war between local regulators and the big tech companies when it comes to deciding what stays and what goes.
Beyond just the basic scams, the focus is shifting toward the bigger headaches like deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation. Teo pointed out that this is no longer just a local issue but a global mess that requires countries to actually talk to each other.