MCMC Chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din said the regulator is issuing a stern warning against those who upload or share any content or hateful views involving elements of racism, religion, and insulting the Royal Institutions (3R – Race, Religion, Royalty) in social media and messaging applications.
The warning was made following several incidents involving elements of 3Rs that have been happening lately and are feared to be possibly affecting public order and harmony in the country. Hateful speech refers to words of speech or pictures that accuse, or demean the value of an individual on racial, ethnic, religious or nationality factors them. Accordingly, MCMC will continue to monitor and curb the spread of unauthentic information and statements that are hateful involving the 3R elements. Any sharing of content that is false, hateful, and threatening is an offense below Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (AKM) 1998 which if Convicted can be fined a maximum of RM50,000 or jail a year or both.
Enforcement action with the Royal Malaysian Police will be taken against those involved in accordance with the provisions of the law existing laws to protect order and the interests of society. Administrators of online news portals, social media, and applications messaging are urged to use their editorial authority to manage comments from netizens on their platforms. Social media platform providers are asked to be more responsible by removing these sort of content provocatively which are deemed dangerous.
MCMC has advised the public if they should come across content that is laced with incitement, provocation, or insulting religion, Royal Institutions and racism, to immediately report the incident.
