According to Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil, almost 2 billion suspicious calls and 581 million suspicious short messaging service (SMS) were successfully blocked from reaching Malaysian consumers.
Fahmi said that this was with the assistance of telecommunications service providers to tackle the issue of online scams and that this occurred between 2020 to April 2023.
Meanwhile, the ministry had also received a total of 8,499 public complaints related to fraudulent activities and, within the same period, successfully blocked 3,370 phishing sites.
“Malaysia is managing misinformation, especially from the new media, by focusing on 2Ps — prevention and protection. We are heavily invested in educating and empowering the public with online knowledge and tools to protect themselves,” he shared.
Meanwhile, to tackle the issue of misinformation, disinformation and fake news, Fahmi said Malaysia had set up a task force consisting of various agencies, including the Royal Malaysian Police, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, and the Attorney General’s Chambers, to establish inter-agency coordination to manage unverified news on new media.
“Malaysia also has set up Sebenarnya.my and MyCheck Malaysia, which are fact-checking websites that enable the Malaysian public to cross-reference information and report false information. Sebenarnya.my has an average hits of 4.8 million a month, and is the most effective fact-checking website in Malaysia,” he added.
The minister explained it is critical to ensure the information disseminated to the masses is reliable and correct because not doing so could prove to be very dangerous to individuals, communities and nations.
Fahmi also noted that Malaysia actively plays a role in creating awareness of ASEAN and among its people, especially among school children and young adults.
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