Najib's FB page awash in flood of ‘angry’ emoji

In what can be seen as online display of civil disobedience, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's Facebook page was awash with angry vibes last night as thousands of netizens went on an emoji rampage.

The most recent post on the premier's page last night garnered almost 10,000 ‘angry’ emojis, far outstripping the ‘love’ emoji (194), as well as the usual 'like' (4,600).

The deluge began soon after Facebook unleashed its brand new ‘reactions’ function, providing various emoji responses - ‘love’, ‘haha’, ‘wow’, ‘sad’ and ‘angry’ - to add to its rather bland ‘like’ button.

An emoji is a small digital icon signifying an emotion, used heavily in electronic communication, the most common being the smiley face.

Some netizens took a more direct approach in making their frustrations known in words, though many took the emoji route.

Malaysians have long taken to social media to express their frustrations with the government and dissatisfaction with the lack of explanation on a number of mega scandals.

Many have been using creative ways to express their disdain for the powers-that-be, either through posts, artwork, and internet memes.

Najib’s Facebook posts often garner thousands of ‘likes’, though critics have also used the platform to publicly show their unhappiness with his leadership.

Premier frown

The Najib government has used the law and regulatory agencies to clamp down on government critics online, which include content deemed ‘disrespectful’ of BN leaders.

Artist Bilqis Hijjas is being charged under Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955 for “insulting behaviour” with intent to provoke breach of peace, fordropping yellow balloons printed with the words ‘democracy’, ‘free media’ and ‘justice’ at an event attended by the prime minister and his wife last year.

In another case, artist Fahmi Reza is under investigation for a caricature of Najib with a clown face, uploaded on his Twitter and Instagram accounts in January.

He is being investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) for misusing a telecommunications network and Section 504 of the Penal Code 1936, which deals with intentional insult to provoke breach of peace.

Another social media user is being investigated for posts on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement which ‘hurt’ Najib’s feelings.

Section 211 of the CMA, which governs online content, makes it an offence to post things which are “indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person”.

Though it remains to be seen if the authorities will find the thousands of ‘angry’ emojis “annoying, abusive, threatening, or harassing” to the prime minister, thousands of netizens continue to plaster their dissatisfaction with emojis all over Najib's FB page. -Mkini