The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has established a direct official communication channel with Meta Asia Pacific to speed up investigations into organised cybercrime, online fraud, and hate speech. Under the arrangement, Meta has formally recognised the FIA’s Single Point of Contact at the National Command and Control Centre. This will allow secure and lawful coordination for requests linked to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Under the arrangement, Meta has formally recognised the FIA’s Single Point of Contact at the National Command and Control Centre. This will allow secure and lawful coordination for requests linked to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Previously, FIA requests had to move through Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties or Interpol channels.

Officials said that process often took months. The new mechanism is expected to reduce response time to days.

All lawful requests to Meta will now be processed only through NC3.

The channel will handle several types of lawful requests.

These include preservation requests, basic subscriber information, account registration details, login IP history, content removal requests, and emergency disclosure requests.

According to the procedure, the investigating officer will prepare the case with all required legal documents and relevant Meta account identifiers.

After the case is prepared, it will be reviewed and approved by the Circle In-charge.

The request will then be sent to the FIA’s official SPOC at NC3. The SPOC will submit it to Meta APAC through the established channel.

An FIA official said all requests will pass through one designated route to ensure accountability, a clear audit trail, and faster processing.

FIA Director General Dr Usman Anwar said the new channel would significantly improve the agency’s ability to respond to time-sensitive cases.

He said this would be especially important in cases involving terrorism and child exploitation.

The new arrangement gives FIA a faster formal route for Meta-related investigations, while keeping requests within a single official and legally documented process.

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