KUALA LUMPUR (July 23): Malaysia is considering compelling advertisers on social media platforms to verify their identities, as part of efforts to ramp up the fight against online scams.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is currently in the process of drafting subsidiary legislation, which includes the development of an online safety code, Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said on Wednesday.

The regulator is studying similar measures implemented in neighbouring countries, including Singapore and Taiwan, she said during the oral question-and-answer session in Parliament.

“This is the type of legislation we are studying,” Teo said. “If we find it to be effective, we will incorporate it into the online safety code currently being developed.”

The move comes at a time of rising proliferation of online scams. In the first four months of 2025, the MCMC has removed more than 32,000 online content related to scams with losses due to online fraud totalling nearly RM800 million over the same period, according to government data.

As of July 15 this year, over 46,000 scam-related contents have been taken down.

The government takes the misuse of digital platforms seriously, Teo stressed, with ongoing collaborations between MCMC and social media providers such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to remove content related to investment fraud, online gambling, and sale of unregistered products.

However, no social media platform has been prosecuted or penalised by Malaysian courts to date for publishing scam-related advertisements, including major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Xiaohongshu.

Such content is typically published by third-party users, and the question of legal liability depends on the platform’s role in facilitating the spread of the material, she noted.

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