Fahmi: No censorship of mobile apps or social media platforms

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has no plans to vet or censor mobile apps or social media platforms, says Fahmi Fadzil.

The Communications and Digital Minister also said they did not intend to introduce any licences for instant social messaging platform providers.

However, he said appropriate action would be taken against any applications that clearly infringe existing laws.

These include blocking the application in question from being used by social media users when there are cases of fraud, impersonation and scamming.

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"Enforcement by the government is based on public complaints as well as those who are affected and on the existing laws," he said in reply to a question from P. Prabakaran (PH-Batu) during Question Time.

Prabakaran had asked the ministry to state if the government had any intention to review its decision to allow the use of applications such as Telegram, Wechat, Michat and several other mobile apps which purportedly had a negative influence on youths.

Fahmi said legal action can also be taken against parties or individuals who uploaded content that are against the law, rather than the platform provider.

Meanwhile, Fahmi said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had established 911 Digital Economy Centres (PEDi) across the country to allow more youths in rural areas to promote their creative content.