MORE than 3,000 social media accounts involved in cyberbullying and hate content were detected from 2019 to August 2020, Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said today.

He told the Dewan Negara that of the 3,680 such accounts, 60% of them were deleted for violating the social media platforms’ terms and conditions and community standards.

Another 3,224 fake social media accounts were also detected during the same period, of which 80% were deleted, the minister added.

He was replying a question by Senator Kesavadas A. Achyuthan Nair on the number of fake social media profiles and action taken by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

“The social media providers will continue to monitor the content and accounts available on their respective platforms and will take appropriate action against any content that goes against their terms and conditions,” Saifuddin told the Senate.

To a question by Kesavadas on laws governing social media, Saifuddin said the existing laws to tackle such issues were the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the Computer Crimes Act 1997 and the Penal Code, in addition to civil action that could be taken.

He also said the ministry was collaborating with the Multimedia University to study the need for specific laws to address cyberbullying. Stakeholder consultation sessions are in progress, he added. – September 21, 2020.