{"id":777035418,"date":"2025-12-02T09:41:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T12:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777035418"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:26:09","slug":"committee-warns-that-malaysian-media-watchdog-has-very-low-regulatory-capacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/committee-warns-that-malaysian-media-watchdog-has-very-low-regulatory-capacity","title":{"rendered":"Committee warns that Malaysian media watchdog has \u201cvery low\u201d regulatory capacity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A parliamentary committee has raised concerns over the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission\u2019s limited ability to monitor online content, including gaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Malaysia.- The parliamentary Special Select Committee on Women, Children and Community Development has raised concerns over the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission\u2019s ability to monitor online content, including gaming platforms accessible to minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulator reported annual revenues between MYR1.2bn (US$290m) and MYR1.6bn (US$386m), but committee chair Yeo Bee Yin<\/strong> said a review of financial statements from 2019 to 2023 showed the body’s allocation for monitoring digital risks remained minimal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMCMC does not provide sufficient dedicated resources,\u201d Yeo told the Dewan Rakyat. \u201cFor monitoring purposes, including identifying websites containing harmful content accessible to children, MCMC has only 56 officers<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cMCMC is not using automated systems or artificial intelligence,\u201d she said. \u201cMuch of the process is still manual, relying on keyword searches. This is very concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee noted that these limitations affect the regulator\u2019s ability to oversee a wide range of online content, including pornography, exploitative material and gaming platforms. The report presented to Parliament cited data from a 2024 MCMC survey showing that 55.7 per cent of children use the internet between one and four hours a day, 60.7 per cent of them via their own device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeo said excessive online use had contributed to \u201cworrying trends<\/strong>,\u201d including internet gaming disorder (IGD), social anxiety and other mental-health challenges. According to the committee, an estimated 315,000 children<\/strong> in Malaysia are currently living with IGD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee urged the Finance Ministry to provide dedicated allocations for digital-safety initiatives and called on the Public Service Department to approve additional posts across ministries involved in children\u2019s digital protection.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Malaysia delegation to push social media platforms for more online gambling controls<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A parliamentary committee has raised concerns over the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission\u2019s limited ability to monitor online content, including gaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777035424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A Malaysian parliamentary committee has expressed significant concerns regarding the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's (MCMC) inadequate capacity to monitor online content, including gaming platforms accessible to minors. The committee highlighted MCMC's minimal resource allocation for digital risk monitoring, reliance on manual processes, and the alarming prevalence of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) among children. It urged the Finance Ministry and Public Service Department to allocate dedicated resources and additional personnel to enhance digital safety initiatives.","focusai_entities":"Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, MCMC, Yeo Bee Yin, Dewan Rakyat, Finance Ministry, Public Service Department, Special Select Committee on Women, Children and Community Development","focusai_location":"Malaysia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"MCMC Funding Impact?","query":"What specific legislative or budgetary actions are anticipated to address the MCMC's resource deficiencies for digital content monitoring, and what is the projected timeline for implementation?"},{"label":"Operator Compliance Changes?","query":"How might the identified regulatory gaps and the prevalence of IGD among minors influence future B2C licensing conditions and responsible gambling mandates for iGaming operators in Malaysia?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16333],"tags":[226,25019,337],"class_list":["post-777035418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-malaysia","tag-mcmc","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777035418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777035418"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777035418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777035442,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777035418\/revisions\/777035442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777035424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777035418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777035418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777035418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}