Significant spike in complaints about fake news

CYBERJAYA: From just three in 2016, complaints lodged by the public on fake news jumped to 165 this year, the Malaysian Communica­tions and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) revealed.

MCMC Network Security and Enforcement Sector chief Zulkar­nain Mohd Yasin said this could be due to the increase in public awareness on the negative impact of fake news on society.

“Some people may say that complaints are not good, but we view complaints from a different perspective.

“For one, it shows that more people are aware of issues related to content (of news, posts and information) found online,” said Zulkar­nain in an interview at MCMC’s headquarters here yesterday.

He said many of the fake news or content circulated online were not new, but recycled from years past.

“What we have realised is that, there will always be recycled (fake) news or content – at least four times a month,” he said.

He said the portal Sebenarnya.my was introduced by MCMC this year to address the issue of fake news and content.

“Fake news will not go away. It will be there, but now people are more empowered to check, verify, and clarify,” he added.

Up to last month, Zulkarnain said, three cases of fake news had been brought to court.

He also said MCMC was bracing for an increase in complaints of fake news and content next year due to the upcoming election.

“There will be a spike during the pre-election, election, and post-election period,” he added.

Zulkarnain said MCMC received a total of 5,904 complaints between January and November this year, with complaints on offensive content or posts topping the reasons at 1,585.

Other complaints were on false content, including online impersonation and fake news (1,203), obscene content or posts (783), indecent content and posts (77), and menacing content or posts (10), he said.

The other 2,246 complaints were referred to other agencies as the complaints were not within MCMC’s purview.

Zulkarnain said contrary to what the public believed, MCMC did not investigate posts or content without a complaint lodged by the public.

“We are not the Internet police, the public is the Internet police,” he said, adding that MCMC, by law, has to investigate every complaint made by the public, however frivolous.