Invisible hands inciting anger on the rise

There are invisible hands deliberately inciting anger and this situation may escalate in view of the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election, said Deputy Communication Minister Teo Nie Ching.

“Some account owners are believed to be operating fake accounts or ‘invisible hands’ deliberately inciting anger and hatred by uploading 3R-related contents,” she commented.

That is why she encouraged people to use the internet wisely and not let themselves be swayed by manipulated 3R issues.

The case might influence Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election on May 11, Teo revealed.

“Usually, during elections such as general elections (PRU), state elections (PRN), or by-elections (PRK), issues related to 3R are more frequently raised. Hopefully, this won’t happen in the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election,” she said.

Tomorrow, the Ministry of Communications and MCMC will meet with Meta Platforms Inc. to talk about online safety, they will discuss 3R issues and the rule that kids under 13 shouldn’t have social media accounts.

Earlier on she revealed that 1,454 online posts related to race, religion, and royalty (3R) were removed in the first three months this year as a result of a collaborative effort involving the social media platforms and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

“Last year, MCMC removed a total of 1,633 3R-related contents, and in just the first three months of this year, a total of 1,454 3R contents have been taken down, which is very concerning,” she said to reporters during a visit to Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Sawit, reported Bernama.

Hate speech related to religion was the highest at 727, followed by racial issues (588) and the royal institution (139).

She added that the breakdown of statistics revealed that the most 3R-related content was found on Facebook with 731, followed by TikTok (705), X formerly known as Twitter (nine), YouTube (five), and Telegram (four).