Content Writer: Janice Chew • Tuesday, 25/11/2025 - 14:45:03 - PM
Malaysia’s communications regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has formally summoned Meta Platforms to provide a detailed explanation following a report by Reuters that suggests roughly 10 % of Meta’s 2024 revenue—approximately US $16 billion—may have come from adverts tied to scams and illegal gambling. The Malaysian government, represented by Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, characterised the findings as “very worrying” if proven true, given that the alleged ad activities conflict with Malaysian law.
Between January 1 and November 4 this year, the MCMC reported submitting 157,208 takedown requests to Meta in Malaysia concerning illegal-online activities, of which 44,922 specifically pertained to fraudulent advertisements. The regulator has flagged that Meta’s current counter-fraud and illicit-gambling ad enforcement is inadequate and has advised Meta to take more proactive steps.
Meta responded by stating that the internal estimates referenced by Reuters were too broad and exploratory, and did not represent final or definitive figures. Nonetheless, Malaysian authorities say that should the figure be accurate, the company could have profited more than RM 250 million (Malaysian ringgit) from these high-risk ads in Malaysia alone.
The case reinforces Malaysia’s broader push (under draft laws such as the Online Safety Act) to hold social-media platforms accountable for content facilitating fraud, gambling and other illegal activities. The outcome of Meta’s engagement with the regulator may reshape how digital-advertising platforms manage high-risk ad inventory in Malaysia and potentially across the region.
