KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Reuters) - Malaysia urged

Facebook operator Meta and short video service TikTok

to step up monitoring on their platforms, it said on Tuesday,

with the government reporting sharp increases in harmful social

media content this year.

In the first three months of 2024, the government referred

51,638 cases to social media platforms, including Meta and

TikTok, for further action, up from 42,904 cases recorded in the

whole of last year, the communications regulator and Malaysian

police said in a joint statement.

The agencies did not specify what types of content were

reported, but said the move was part of efforts to restrict the

spread of harmful content online, particularly those related to

race, religion and royalty.

TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, and Meta were also urged

to curb content indicating coordinated inauthentic behaviour, or

related to financial scams and illegal online gambling, the

agencies said.

Race and religion are sensitive issues in Malaysia, which

has a mainly Muslim ethnic Malay majority, alongside significant

ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities. It also has laws

prohibiting seditious remarks or insults against its monarchy.

Malaysia has increased scrutiny of online content in recent

months, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's administration

facing accusations of backpedaling on its promises to protect

free speech. The government has denied allegations of stifling

diverse views, saying it needed to protect users from online

harms.

Meta and TikTok restricted a record number of social media

posts and accounts in Malaysia in the first six months of 2023,

amid an increase in government requests to remove content, data

published by the firms last year showed.