MCMC looks into report on bid to manipulate election

Malaysia’s internet regulator is examining a report by American artificial intelligence firm Anthropic of an online election manipulation campaign targeting Malaysians.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said it takes the report’s findings seriously and will seek further information before determing the next appropriate course of action.

An Anthropic report yesterday said the company had disrupted a commercial election manipulation platform that primarily targeted people in Malaysia.

About 1,000 fake social media accounts were involved, as well as a bogus news site and fabricated intelligence dossiers. The firm noted that the operation used Anthropic’s Claude AI models to build a system that could profile and target Malaysian voters by constituency.

Anthropic’s report also claimed that those behind the operation had pursued a contract with “Malaysia’s national communications regulator”. However, Anthropic said it found no evidence that this pursuit was successful.

MCMC said the activities described in the report do not fall within its functions, and also stressed that it does not engage in such activities or arrangements.