There is no ‘double standard’ in the fight against misuse of social media

There is no ‘double standard’ in the fight against misuse of social media

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no issue of double standards or ‘selective affection’ in the government’s efforts to combat the abuse of social media.

The Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD) through a written response posted on the Parliament website yesterday informed the government that it is committed to ensuring that appropriate action is taken against individuals or parties regardless of background and political affiliation, if they are found to have committed a legal offence.

According to KKD, the enforcement actions taken by the government are based on existing legal provisions and based on complaints from the public and affected parties, without any element of bias.

“Sanctions will not be imposed on any individual to express feelings or opinions as long as they are within the scope and limitations of the law. This is to ensure that social media is not misused to the extent that it can threaten the peace and stability of the country,” according to the ministry.

The statement was in response to a question from Khairil Nizam Khirudin (PN-Jerantut) who asked if the government is selective and has a double standard to combat issues on social media, i.e. TikTok accounts that voice the opposition’s right to political freedom are blocked, but Twitter accounts that spread pornography or dark side accounts are not taken action.

KKD also informed that a total of 176 complaints were received and investigated by the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) from 2020 to 2022 regarding offenses provided under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588).

Out of that number, 22 cases have been prosecuted in court with 19 cases having been completed and sentenced to fines with a total value of RM111,000 and three more cases in the trial process.

“The MCMC has also reported a total of 217 accounts that were found to be uploading obscene content to Twitter and all those accounts and pages have been taken down,” according to the ministry.

In addition, KKD informs that restrictions on social media platforms are not an absolute solution as long as efforts to strengthen people’s identity are not implemented, given that the issue of dark side social media is closely related to social problems that need to be addressed comprehensively.

According to KKD, the effort to eradicate and prevent negative influences including pornography and abuse of social media, especially among the younger generation, is a shared responsibility and requires the concerted efforts of various parties, especially parents and guardians.

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