The Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Gobind Singh Deo earlier today has made a remark regarding the significant number of contents that Internet users in Malaysia have downloaded through BitTorrent. This took place at the Kuala Lumpur Digital Content Anti-Piracy Summit that was organized by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) with cooperation from Coalition Against Piracy, Asia Video Industry Association, Astro, Media Prima, Dim Sum, and iflix.

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In his speech, Gobind pointed out that 84 million files involving movies and TV shows were downloaded by Internet users in Malaysia last year via BitTorrent. While the minister didn’t provide the source of this particular statistic, he described it as a loss to the national economy since the entertainment and media industry apparently provides revenue to Malaysia worth billions of Ringgit.

The minister backed it up by citing that the industry has lost RM 1.05 billion worth of revenue in 2016 with the government also losing RM 157 million in the form of taxes due to 1900 job losses within the filming and broadcasting industry. These numbers were based on Astro’s analysis on PWC Global Media Outlook Report 2016, Comscore 2016, and Oxford Economics 2014.

It goes without saying that these numbers are indeed quite astronomical. In the same speech, the minister stated that the industry certainly has to help guide consumers when it comes to copyright and intellectual infringement. At the very least, help them understand the importance of respecting the online property of other people.

(Source: KKMM – 1 [pdf] // MCMC. Image: KKMM // MCMC. )

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