KUALA LUMPUR: A meeting will be held with representatives of the social media platform provider Twitter to address issues such as extremist content and disinformation on Wednesday (Feb 15), says Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzli.
The meeting comes after similar meetings held with online social media platforms TikTok and Google last month to address the issue.
"Taking into account the importance of strengthening cooperation with the social media platforms providers, the government has taken the approach to meet up with representatives of TikTok and Meta on Jan 12 to strengthen cooperation, legal enforcement and supervision of content.
"A similar meeting was held with Google on Jan 26 whereas a meeting will be held with Twitter on Feb 15," Fahmi said in written reply in Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Feb 15).
He was answering a question by Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan (PN-Gelugor) on the number of TikTok and accounts with other social media accounts were investigated and blocked.
Wan Saiful also asked what assurance would be given by the current unity government to uphold the principle of freedom of expression.
At a press conference on Tuesday (Feb 14), Wan Saiful claimed that the government was clamping down on freedom of expression after two social media activists were called in for investigations recently.
Last December, Fahmi had said that the government was concerned with regard to extremist content and disinformation and would meet with social media platform providers on the matter.
The Minister also said the personal data security and privacy would also be raised during the meetings.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said that a total of 444 incidents were investigated by the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) between 2020 and January this year for online abuse.
"Of the 444 cases, Facebook was the highest with regard to investigations of five social media platforms with 158 cases," he said.
He added this was followed by WhatsApp (121), Twitter (36), Instagram (27) and TikTok (23).
Fahmi said that 197 posts were removed by the social platform providers who are based abroad.
He added that the content was removed as they breached the terms and conditions including community standards set by the social media providers that are based abroad.
Fahmi said that the government is committed to ensuring freedom of expression for all Malaysians which does not infringe on the rights of others as provided under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
