Call to register Facebook accounts with MCMC 'impossible and unwise' - IT expert

An IT expert said the proposal to have all Facebook users in the country to register their accounts with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as ‘impossible and unwise’.

Information Technology Youth Movement president and founder Khaireel Azlee Abdul Aziz said the idea is impossible as MCMC will have to monitor 15.4 million Facebook users in Malaysia.

“Even if they registered (with MCMC), users can still ‘escape’ the system by logging on to Facebook from another country.

"Furthermore, a study is still underway to determine if the number of defamation cases online is more than the benefits of using Facebook, such as for doing businesses and the sharing of knowledge,” he said.

The call for Facebook users to register their accounts with the MCMC came following a case of insulting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong by the owner of the Facebook account 'Chandra Lawan Tetap Lawan'.

The Facebook user had allegedly uploaded a gory photograph of an accident that was edited to include the King's image.

However, administrators of the account claimed that the picture was uploaded on a duplicated fake page. The post has since been removed by Facebook following reports of abuse by users.

“At present, with cases such as insulting Islam, (Yang di-Pertuan) Agong and numerous baseless allegations made on Facebook, it is quite difficult to track down the culprits, especially when they can easily get away with excuses that their accounts had been hacked, fake accounts or outside servers,” Universiti Sains Malaysia Communication Studies Faculty senior lecturer Assoc Prof Mohamad Md Yusoff told Bernama yesterday.

He said the move would make it easier to identify the culprits and was more appropriate compared to shutting down access to Facebook to prevent abuse by users.

Meanwhile, Khaireel Azlee said the social media community plays an important role in preventing defamatory and obscene materials online.

“They should lodge reports. It has to be driven by the community itself,” he said.

When asked on whether regulations, such as an Anti-Hate Speech law, can be enacted to help curb abuses and defamation on social media, he said it will be too difficult to identify words that falls under that ‘category’ of offence.

“Some people uses polite language and some uses obscene words. It’s like coffee shop talk. So it will be difficult to determine the languages used on social media.”