Take responsibility for spread of racial issues, social media providers told

 

Syahredzan Johan said social media providers should play a bigger role in curbing racial rhetoric as the country is dealing with attempts by ‘certain parties’ to stir up racial sentiment.

PETALING JAYA: A government backbencher has urged social media providers to shoulder more responsibility in combating the spread of racial issues on their platforms.

Syahredzan Johan (PH-Bangi) said social media providers should play a bigger role as the country is dealing with attempts by “certain parties” to stir up racial sentiments.

“People are using racial and religious issues for political purposes. This is compounded by social media platforms such as TikTok, which ultimately simplify the spread of unverified matters.

“Yes, they (social media providers) have their guidelines, but I see that they are not effective enough.

“They are too slow to take action. By the time a decision is made to take down (any content), the content has already spread across Malaysia,” Syahredzan said when debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat.

Although he agreed with suggestions for the government to sternly deal with the issue, he said laws will not solve all the country’s problems.

In November, communications minister Fahmi Fadzil told the Dewan Rakyat that any content deemed offensive on social media platforms could be removed even if it does not address 3R (royalty, religion, and race) issues.

He said content will be reviewed by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission according to Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

According to a study made by the Centre for Independent Journalism, in partnership with Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Nottingham University, hate speech online reached a peak during the 15th general election.

Meanwhile, Hasnizan Harun (PN-Hulu Selangor) asked the government to provide Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributions for all staff of all elected representatives’ service centres.

“I hope the finance ministry will consider this as this issue transcends political boundaries. They should be eligible for Socso protection because they face members of the public every day,” he said when debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat. - FMT