Social media enables advertisers to reach targeted audiences in markets across the globe. The multi-billion-dollar sector continues to grow, and many advertisers turn to platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok to promote their products and services.
However, there’s a dark side to advertising on social media and that is when such resources are used for the promotion of fraudulent schemes, scams and illegal gambling services. This is precisely the case for Facebook in Malaysia, where a media regulator asked the platform to remove nearly 250,000 advertisement pieces of content this year.
Currently, the Asian country offers limited options for gambling. While there’s an established monopoly for casino gambling, Malaysia also offers lotteries and wagering on horse races. However, any form of sports betting or online gambling remains illegal in the country with the relevant authorities constantly monitoring the sector.
An effort against the promotion of illegal online gambling and scams via social media recently saw the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) request the removal of advertisement pieces, as announced by local media outlets. In this particular case, the Commission filed a request with Facebook, asking the social media platform to remove a total of 249,268 pieces of content this year.
A breakdown of the total reveals that the majority of the content pieces which were flagged by the MCMC were related to online gambling, a total of 172,072. On the other hand, some 56,136 pieces of content were reportedly related to different scams. Overall, illegal gambling and scams represented close to 92% of the content requested to be removed by Facebook.
Hundreds of Millions of Malaysian Ringgit Lost to Scams, Illegal Gambling
Fahmi Fadzil, the communications minister in Malaysia, quoted by local media explained that the Commission lacked the authority to request the removal of advertising content from social media platforms. However, he explained that the MCMC can submit a request with the platform, such as the most recent one filed with Facebook, and ask for the removal of such content.
Concerningly, Fadzil pointed to the millions of Malaysian Ringgit lost to scams and illegal gambling in 2023. He explained that scams and ads about unlawful gambling such as the ones appearing on Facebook resulted in losses of RM 432 million, or more than $97 million, for Malaysians.
Equally as concerning is the revenue the social media platform earned from ads in Malaysia, estimated at RM 2.5 billion. In Fadzil’s opinion, a large portion of Facebook’s earnings from advertisements was tied to online investment scams.
