Over 30 content creators, social media influencers and radio deejays with the potential to reach and impact over 5 million Malaysians trained to amplify online safety and scam awareness

PETALING JAYA, 27 SEPTEMBER 2024 – The evolving digital landscape is infiltrated with various scams, fraudulent activities, cyberbullying, and misinformation. Recognising that combatting this growing social epidemic requires a whole-of-society approach, CelcomDigi Berhad ("CelcomDigi") hosted two exclusive Online Safety and Anti-Scam Masterclasses to empower content creators, social media influencers, and radio presenters to become online safety advocates.

The interactive masterclasses are led by experts in cybersecurity, digital ethics, behavioural psychology and also child online safety to provide the content creators, influencers and radio presenters insights on the various online threats and scams, the red flags to look out for and ways to identify scams, the psychology in scam and measures to take when encountered with scams. The masterclass also offered on-ground examples into online child safety issues encountered and best practices to protect children in the digital world. These insights would empower and enable the participants with essential knowledge to amplify online safety awareness and advocacy through their contents and interactions with the community.

CelcomDigi's Head of Sustainability said, "Content creators and social media influencers, with their far-reaching platforms and wide followings, hold the power to shape how their audiences use the internet and stay safe online. Similarly, radio deejays and presenters have a unique ability to engage and influence large audiences every day pointing them to the right direction for guidance and help."

"We need constant reminders of various threats online especially scams and fraudulent activities because despite high awareness, there is still a gap in understanding how to take preventive actions. Our recent National Scam Awareness Survey 2024 Report revealed that while 85% of Malaysians are aware of online scams, nearly 60% have encountered scams or know someone who has. So, through these masterclasses, we are not just training influencers, we are building a collective voice to combat scams and online harm. We believe that these participants can become a dynamic community of advocates to drive positive changes in this fight for greater online safety and in building a trusted digital society."

Participants in the masterclasses include notable influencers such as Raj Mahal, Esty Richard, Eizuwan Fulamak, Jane Teoh, Hubert CEO, Abang Lawyer Hafiz Baharuddin, Vikar World, and Alexey Brock as well as radio deejays and presenters from major radio stations namely Nasional FM, Minnal FM, Ai FM, Asyik FM, BERNAMA Radio, Hitz FM, Mix FM, Era FM, Sinar FM and BFM.

Collectively these influencers and radio deejays have the potential to reach and impact millions of Malaysians across diverse demographics and languages including engaging specific ethnic communities, urban, rural and suburban populations as well as youths and professional groups.

The interactive masterclasses are part of the recently launched Creators IRL (In Real Life) initiative in collaboration with Ratio:Cause, Meta Platforms Inc. and Women's Centre of Change. The initiative is designed to tackle online scams and harm, create active online safety advocates and help build a more trusted digital society in Malaysia.

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