MCMC has blocked 69 prostitution and 549 pornographic websites since January, claims Teo

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat was informed today that from January to June 1 of this year, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had blocked 549 pornographic and 69 prostitution websites.

According to Teo Nie Ching, the deputy minister of communications, in the same time frame, MCMC worked with social media platform providers to delete 308 pornographic items and 838 prostitution-related contents from a variety of platforms, including Telegram and X.

“In terms of enforcement activities, MCMC is now looking into seven cases containing pornographic content. During the Q&A period, she stated, “These actions will continue based on monitoring and complaints received from authorities and the public.”

In her response, she addressed a query regarding the government’s strategy for countering “dark side” activities and taking action against social media platform account administrators who engage in online prostitution. The questioner was Datuk Siti Aminah Aching (BN-Beaufort).

According to Teo, platform providers actively participate in engagement sessions aimed at bolstering cooperation and commitment to ensure the efficacy of actions to monitor and manage harmful information on the platforms.

Furthermore, she stated that next month, all social media platform providers would be invited to a meeting with Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil to address the issue.

Teo stated that the operator of X has decided to permit users to upload, produce, and share pornographic content, and the ministry and MCMC are currently awaiting response from them.

“This month, the MCMC officially protested to X, stating that we believe that the content in question is dangerous, against the law, and at odds with the nation’s cultural and religious customs as well as the values of Rukun Negara.

“More action will be taken while we wait for their response,” she replied to Siti Aminah’s follow-up inquiry about the difficulties MCMC is having removing pornographic and prostitution-related content from social media.