KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's (MCMC) website, Sebenarnya.my, which was set up to counter fake news, has garnered more than 70 million hits since its inception, the Dewan Rakyat is told.
"The portal recorded over 70 million visitors since it was set up in March 2017, with an average of 2.4 million hits a month," Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said.
He was answering a question raised by Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz (PAS-Bachok) in Parliament on Thursday. (Nov 14).
He added that the portal also received 3,361 reports from members of the public on news whose truth could not be verified.
"The number of reports of fake news from members of the public also increased by 55% from 340 last year to 572 as of September this year," he said.
He added that the increase in the number of complaints on fake news revealed that the public was now more aware about not spreading unverified and fake news.
He said the ministry and MCMC was also working closely with other agencies to act more swiftly in countering fake news that went viral on social media.
He added that the ministry was also currently developing a fact-checker system to allow social media users to verify their news source.
On a separate matter, Gobind said the ministry, through the Personal Data Protection Department, was carrying out a review of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).
He said this was necessary to keep abreast of the rapid developments in digital and e-commerce sectors.
Since 2017 and up till October this year, he said, five individuals had been charged and fined a total of RM54,000 for breach of confidential personal data.
Gobind added that seven others were slapped with compounds totalling RM80,000 for the same offence in the same period.
He said this when answering a question raised by Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (PH-Beluran) during Minister's Question Time.
Dr Kiandee suggested that besides punishing hackers, amendments be made to the PDPA to include penalties for owners of confidential personal data which had been breached.- Star
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