The Malaysian government is set to take aim at meta over the prevalence of black market gambling ads that appear on the site, according to a report by The Scoop.
It comes ahead of a crunch meeting between the two parties over the advertising of black market operators across social media sites, specifically Facebook.
The meeting, which is set to take place on 22 September, arrives following a flurry of complaints from the government over the lack of action from Facebook around harmful advertising.
One of the central issues set to be raised by the government’s Communications Minister, Datuk Fahmi Fadzil, is around the lack of action when it comes to blocking credit cards with known links to black market websites.
Speaking to reporters, he stated: “If a gambling ad is paid for using a credit card, and Facebook knows this content is illegal in Malaysia, they should block the credit card account used. But Facebook has refused to do so.”
“Many people benefit from these platforms socially and economically – but we cannot allow criminals to misuse them for profit or to commit online crimes.”
He also took aim at the platform over the accessibility of black market gambling adverts and just how prevalent they are.
Social trepidation across India
This issue is not isolated to Malaysia, a recent report by the All India Gaming Federation revealed the extent at which players in the country engage with the black market.
The report detailed that unlicensed betting platforms had a total of 1.6 billion visits over a three month period.
It was a report that specifically took aim at poor effectiveness of the current measures being in place when it comes to halting the black market – specifically pinpointing website blocking measures as not having the desired effect.
This partially comes down to illegal operators utilising mirroring websites to enable users to circumvent blocking regulatory takedowns and blocking protocols.
Central to this is the usage of new UPI accounts in order to evade detection from website blocking strategies.
The report cited RBI data from July 2024, which states that mules funnel around $300m in illicit funds every month, with the illicit gambling market being one of the most significant beneficiaries of these transactions.
It revealed that mules provide one of the key ways for the illicit market to evade regulatory and financial frameworks, an evasion they rely on to be sustainable.
Furthermore, there is also evidence, according to the report, that using blocking as the sole strategy when it comes to crippling the black market is simply ineffective. The report cited Norway, the UK, Denmark, Belgium, and the United States as markets that highlight this.
The network utilised by illegal operators was described by the report as “highly sophisticated”, engaging with a myriad of payment journeys and currencies – these include UPI transactions facilitated through mule accounts, cryptocurrencies, and international wallets.
In terms of traffic drivers to the illicit market, the report cited the significant impact of social media and influencer marketing, calling on strictness of advertising policies to be increased.
It detailed that over a three month period, social media drove 42.8 million visits to just four illegal sites, whilst referral traffic generated 247.5 million visits, primarily from adult sites, gambling affiliates and promotions on sports and video streaming platforms.
It specifically took aim at the Facebook advertising policy, which has grown monumentally in recent times.
iGaming Expert Analysis: The action of the Malaysian government could well usher in strengthening of strategies from across Asia when it comes to ensuring that social media giants do more to tackle the black market. We have already seen in India the impact of Instagram and Facebook when it comes to black market engagement. We have also seen the recent growth of TikTok when it comes to a platform that bolsters black market engagement.
The Malaysian government is clearly intent on ensuring that social media platforms do more and unsurprising given the funnel that social media can provide to the black market – here’s hoping that other governments will follow their lead on this one.
