DA NANG: Almost two billion suspicious calls and 581 million suspicious short messaging service (SMS) were successfully blocked from reaching Malaysian consumers with the assistance of telco service providers to tackle the issue of online scams.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said from 2020 to April 2023, the Ministry 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 2P’s - prevention and protection.
“We are heavily invested in educating and empowering the public with online knowledge and tools to protect themselves,” he said in his remarks at the 16th Conference of Asean Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) plenary session held after the opening ceremony, here, Friday. Fahmi is leading the Malaysian delegation to the 16th AMRI at Furama Resort Danang, here, which officially commenced on Friday.
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He said this is in response to AMRI’s Working Group on Information, Media and Training, which has established the Task Force on Fake News (TFFN) to look specifically at the role of Media and Information, to share best practices and even come up with shared initiatives in the Asean region on combating fake news.
“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 said.
The Minister said it is critical to ensure the information disseminated to the masses are reliable and correct as this can spell disaster to individuals, communities and nations, especially in the case of new media that has witnessed rapid advancement.
Commenting on the 16th AMRI theme, “Media: From Information To Knowledge For A Resilient And Responsive Asean, he said it is a very apt as media has evolved from what is known as print which delivers news the very next day to what we have now which gives us news the very next millisecond.
“In order to be resilient and responsive, knowledge is definitely the key, and the media plays an effective role in converting information to knowledge,” he said, when sharing Malaysia’s journey and vision with regards to the theme, in line with the ASEAN Communications Master Plan II 2018-2025 (ACMP II).
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