Malaysian Authorities Threaten Court Action Against Facebook over Gambling Ads

^{Pictured: Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysia’s communications minister}

Malaysian authorities have warned Facebook that it could face legal action over what they described as insufficient cooperation in tackling illegal gambling ads, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said, according to The Star.

The minister made the comments after an inter-agency meeting on efforts to combat online scams. He said Malaysian authorities had submitted 271,472 requests to remove harmful content from various online platforms between 1 January and 23 May 2026.

Of those requests, 91% related to scam and online gambling-related content.

At the same time, 81% of online gambling-related content was found on Facebook.

According to Fahmi, possible legal action against the social network and its parent company, Meta, will be considered by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

He added that Facebook still had a “last chance” to show its willingness to cooperate with the authorities.

Malaysia is also considering setting up a separate coordination committee to combat online scams. It could include regulators, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, telecommunications companies and online safety specialists. The proposal is expected to be submitted to the government in the coming weeks.