MCMC warns against provocative 3R social media postings following 'Allah' socks incident

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) says it will not compromise or tolerate any dissemination of excessively provocative postings on social media.

This, they said, comes following incendiary comments made surrounding the 'Allah' socks incident.

"The MCMC is collaborating with the police to track down and trace the owners of the accounts involved and bring them to court.

"MCMC would like to remind everyone to cease the dissemination of provocations and refrain from making provocative comments, especially those that touch on the 3Rs (race, royalty, religion) on social media," it said in a statement today.

It added that statistics show a significant increase in harmful content on social media and Over The Top (OTT) platforms.

They reported that a total of 35,490 items of content were removed in 2023, while in just the first two months of this year, 27,115 items were removed.

The MCMC outlined that harmful content includes hate speech, scams, illegal sales, gambling, and fake news.

"Such content poses a significant threat to the social fabric and institutions in Malaysia. A total of 2,004 items of content involving hate speech and touching on aspects of race, religion, and royalty that could incite violence and discrimination have been removed since January 2023."

Meanwhile, a total of 479 pieces of provocative and race, religion, and royalty-related content have been removed since March 13 until now, it added.

"Any sharing of malicious and threatening content constitutes an offence under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998.

"Offenders can be fined up to RM50,000 or face imprisonment for up to one year or both," the statement read.