GE15: MCMC warns Malaysians to be courteous on social media

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians have been reminded to maintain decency, tolerance and etiquette when giving views and making comments on social media.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said this following the announcement by the Election Commission (EC) regarding the date of the 15th General Election (GE15) on Thursday (Oct 20).

"We would like to remind all parties, especially social media users, to always maintain decency, leave tolerance and etiquette when giving views and making any comments.

"The MCMC will continue to monitor to curb the spread of false information and ugly statements involving the 3R elements, namely King (Royalty), Religion and Race," it said in a statement on Thursday.

It added that any sharing of false, ugly and threatening content was an offence under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (AKM) 1998.

"Those convicted can be fined a maximum of RM50,000 or jail for one year or both.

"Enforcement actions will be carried out based on complaints from the public in accordance with the provisions of the existing laws transparently in order to protect order and the interests of the community," it said adding that anyone who wished to report incidents or content with 3R elements on social media could do so directly to MCMC through its complaints portal at https://aduan.skmm.gov.my/.

The public can also channel information or report fake news through the link https://sebenarnya.my/salur/.