KUALA LUMPUR: Communications Minister, Fahmi Fadzil, confirmed that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has received several complaints regarding the ongoing actions of a certain individual who has been exposing disgraceful matters concerning controversial celebrity, Aliff Aziz, via social media.
He said the MCMC has, at this time, been directed to investigate all related complaints and to take appropriate action based on the law, according to a Berita Harian report today.
"There are those who (accuse of slow action being taken in the Aliff Aziz case), but it needs to be said here that the complaints (regarding exposing disgraceful matters) have just been made, in the past day or two by several members of the public. It (the complaint) cannot come from me or the MCMC but from members of the public. The MCMC will take action if there is a report.
"Not by 'tagging' Fahmi Fadzil on social media, that's not a report. So, whoever wants to make a complaint, it needs to be made officially, then we will examine it in depth and take action based on the law," he said when met by news reporters after Media Prima Berhad's Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House event, here, today.
Fahmi added that so far, his side has not received further details regarding the related complaints, including the number of reports received and the individuals accused of committing the wrongdoing.
Asked about MCMC's jurisdiction in bringing down content that exposes disgraceful matters, he said, so far, it has relied on the cooperation of social media platforms to do so.
"I need to mention here, (to take down content), it depends on the platform (social media). We can ask for cooperation from them but we can't force them (to take it down). The platform only takes it down if it agrees that the (published) content violates the law.
"There were times when the MCMC asked for certain content to be taken down, but they didn't do that. So if people say I have an 'iron fist', that's not true... because in the end, it depends on whether the platform agrees (to do so)," he said.
Fahmi, who was also asked whether the government would study giving full power to the MCMC to suppress content containing slander, sedition, and hatred on social media, explained that this would be considered.
"At present, there is nothing yet (no jurisdiction). We will consider it (in the future)," he said.
