Online sexual harassment, cyberbullying under probe, says Annuar

ONLINE sexual harassment and cyberbullying were among over 6,000 harassment cases investigated by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), says Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

The Communications and Multimedia Minister, in a written reply to Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (Ph-ledang), said that since 2020 and as of July this year, the MCMC had received 6,598 public complaints in general related to online harassment.

The complaints were in relation to but not limited to online bullying, sexual harassment, threats and causing fear, he added.

The cases also involved abuse of personal information or the use of personal photographs to oppress and stalk certain individuals.

All the cases were investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

This prohibits the spread of false, pornographic, threatening and harassment content.

Of the complaints, 213 were investigated by the MCMC for abuse of social media, said Annuar.

Seven were prosecuted in court, the minister said.

He added that complaints were also lodged via Cyber999 which is managed by Cybersecurity Malaysia.

He said 219 complaints were lodged last year related to online sexual harassment.

He also said that 131 such complaints had been lodged as of July this year.

He added that the complaints were forwarded to the relevant enforcement authorities for further action.

To address this issue, Annuar said 39 cybersecurity awareness talks were held involving 21,491 participants.

He also noted the SIBERKASA campaign launched in March.

The campaign was designed to create further awareness on cybersecurity and the development of a safer online ecosystem.