TakeAway Points:
- Microsoft will launch its first cloud region in Malaysia with three data centres by mid-year, the tech company said on Thursday, nearly a year after it announced a $2.2 billion investment in the Southeast Asian country.
- In an effort to combat disinformation ahead of a national election scheduled for May, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms announced on Tuesday that its independent fact-checking initiative in Australia would assist in identifying and eliminating deepfakes and fraudulent content.
Three data centres
The data centres, known as the Malaysia West cloud, will be located in the greater Kuala Lumpur area and will start operations in the second quarter, Laurence Si, managing director of Microsoft Malaysia, said at a press conference.
Microsoft did not reveal the capacity of the data centres.
Asked if Microsoft has faced any issues in exporting chips to Malaysia due to U.S. export controls on semiconductor chips, Si said the company was monitoring the situation.
“At this point, everything is status quo for us. We do have a good relationship with all the various stakeholders. Everything that we intend to invest and go live with in our region, that continues to stay on track,” he said.
In May last year, Microsoft announced an investment of $2.2 billion over the next four years to expand its cloud and artificial intelligence services in Malaysia.
Si said Microsoft estimated its commitments in Malaysia over the next four years would generate $10.9 billion in revenues and create more than 37,000 jobs.
“Local businesses and organisations will be able to innovate faster and more securely, driving the country’s progress towards becoming the hub for cloud and AI growth in Southeast Asia,” he said.
Meta vows to curtail false content
Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta Platforms said on Tuesday its independent fact-checking program in Australia would help detect and remove false content and deepfakes, as it aims to curb misinformation ahead of a national election due by May.
In a blog post, the social media company said any content that could lead to imminent violence and physical harm, and interfere with voting would be removed, while the distribution of misleading content through its platforms would be curtailed.
“When content is debunked by fact-checkers, we attach warning labels to the content and reduce its distribution in Feed and Explore so it is less likely to be seen,” said Cheryl Seeto, Meta’s Head of Policy in Australia.
News agencies Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press will review the content for Meta, Seeto said.
Meta scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programs in January and reduced curbs on discussions around contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity, bowing to pressure from conservatives to implement the biggest overhaul of its approach to managing political content on its services.
Besides fake content, social media companies are also fighting to contain deepfakes – hyper-realistic videos, photographs or audio generated through AI algorithms that are presented as real.
Meta said any deepfake content that violates its policies would be removed, or rated “altered” and then ranked down in its feed to limit its distribution. Users will also be prompted to disclose when they post or share AI-generated content.
“For content that doesn’t violate our policies, we still believe it’s important for people to know when photorealistic content they’re seeing has been created using AI,” Seeto said.
Opinion polls show a close-run election in Australia with the opposition Liberal-National coalition ahead of the ruling centre-left Labor party by a narrow margin.
Meta’s approach in Australia is consistent with its efforts to prevent misinformation during the recent elections in India,Britain, and the United States, Seeto said.
Meta is facing multiple regulatory headwinds inAustralia, with the government planning to impose a levy on big tech firms to compensate for advertising revenue they generate from sharing local news content.
Meta and other social media firms must also enforce a ban for users under 16 by the end of this year with the companies consulting the government on how they should roll out the restrictions.
