KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Media Council Bill, which is an effort to strengthen cooperation between the government and media industry representatives, will be tabled for the second reading in the Dewan Rakyat, on Wednesday.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said discussions between the Ministry of Communications and the Malaysian Media Council Protem Committee have been actively held regularly since early 2023.
He said the Protem Committee comprises 40 representatives from media associations, media practitioners, independent media practitioners, academicians and media companies such as Malaysiakini, Astro Awani, The Star, Berita Harian, Sinar Harian, Makkal Osai, Malaysian Nanban, Malaysian Tamil Media Association, China Press and Sin Chew Daily.
“As a result, this Bill can be drafted in line with the media industry’s desire to establish a body that will strengthen media governance in Malaysia.
“This is the government’s commitment to guaranteeing media freedom,“ he said when winding up the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address for the Ministry of Communications in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The bill was tabled for first reading on Dec 12, 2024, among other things, to establish a self-regulatory body to safeguard the interests of the media and media practitioners.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said that as of yesterday (Feb 23), the Artificial Intelligence Fact-check Assistant (AIFA) Chatbot had received and processed 57,782 messages with an average of 2,140 messages per day.
“Among the most asked questions were government aid issues, the COVID-19 issue allegedly occurring in Bukit Mahkota, the claim that Israel will make Malaysia a visa exemption destination, the issue of increasing electricity tariffs and also the Mpox issue in Singapore,“ he said.
AIFA was developed by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) which plays a role in helping the public check and obtain authentic information quickly and easily and expediting feedback on unverified information online.
In addition, Fahmi said 5,026 gambling websites were blocked with the cooperation of internet service providers from 2022 to Feb 1 this year and 224,403 gambling content on social media platforms was taken down during the same period.
“Of the total, the top three are on Facebook, which is 93.13 per cent, Youtube 3.5 per cent and Instagram 2.48 per cent.
“The action to take down social media content and block these websites is based on MCMC’s information made based on official applications from enforcement agencies as well as information and complaints from the public received by MCMC,“ he said.
According to Fahmi, during the same period, MCMC also blocked 316 websites with elements of prostitution while 2,315 content on various social media platforms was also taken down.
Fahmi said the highest content takedowns involved Facebook at 44.5 per cent, TikTok (33.39 per cent) and Telegram (20.13 per cent).
The action to take down social media content and block websites was carried out against content that violated the law based on official requests from enforcement agencies as well as information and complaints from the public received by MCMC, he said.
