Malaysian laws can be used against social media content

CONTENT in social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter does not need approval or evaluation by agencies such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), said Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

“However, their content is subject to laws like the Sedition Act 1948, the Penal Code, the Evidence Act 1950 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” he told Datuk Noraini Ahmad (Bn-parit Sulong).

Dr Rais said MCMC had received 716 complaints over content in Facebook and Twitter last year.

From the total, 289 complaints were on offensive or threatening content, 247 on false information, 40 on obscene and indecent content, 124 on hacking while 16 reports involved other matters.

“MCMC also received 1,112 complaints on websites, blogs and e-mail last year,” he added.