Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil reveals more than 10,000 fake accounts impersonating the royal family have been taken down this year.
KUALA LUMPUR: More than 10,000 fake social media accounts misusing the identities of the King, Queen, and other members of the royal family have been removed since the beginning of the year.
Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the action was taken by platforms following continuous monitoring by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and reports received between January 1 and March 28.
He revealed the findings to His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim yesterday, stating that the trend of such impersonations shows no sign of slowing down.
Fahmi noted that MCMC almost daily reports new fake accounts misusing names like the Sultan of Pahang, the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang, and the Regent of Johor.
His Majesty has directed the Ministry of Communications and MCMC to take swift and firm action, including under the Online Safety Act 2025, to ensure platform compliance with national laws.
The minister stressed that such measures are crucial to prevent royal identities from being exploited for fraud and scams.
He expressed significant frustration with Meta, criticising the platform for being extremely slow and not taking the issue seriously.
Fahmi confirmed that enforcement of ONSA will proceed firmly once several subsidiary instruments are finalised and gazetted by the Attorney-General’s Chambers in the coming weeks.
A meeting with the National Scam Response Centre will also be held soon to strengthen efforts against AI-powered fraud, including deepfake scams.
That meeting will bring together multiple agencies including the police, the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre, MCMC, and the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
