Fahmi denies telling X to remove posts criticising him

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister of Communications Fahmi Fadzil has denied the allegation that he had lodged a report to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to have the social network platform, X, remove posts criticising him regarding the recent Cabinet reshuffle.

Fahmi said neither he nor his office had made such a report, and the Commission is free to take action without needing his approval.

"I just want to make it clear that MCMC receives complaints from anybody, the general public, I have not spoken with MCMC about this particular matter, but generally MCMC does not refer to me before they take any action, they are free to take action. So sometimes it could be the general public that lodged the complaint.

"I am not affected by the posts, I have no problem with that. Neither I nor my office lodged the report to the MCMC... I can confirm that," he said in response to the report by a news portal claiming that the government had reported to MCMC to have X remove all posts criticising a minister on the platform.

Fahmi was met after launching the Special Stamp for Independent Palestine by Pos Malaysia, here today.

Fahmi said that, at present, his ministry is focusing on issues that are deemed more crucial, which include combating online gambling, fake news, as well as issues related to race, religion, and the royal institution (3R).

He stressed that due to these priorities, the matter at hand does not affect his focus at all.

Meanwhile, Fahmi said he would hold a meeting with Google next week to discuss issues related to explicit content accessible through the streaming platform, YouTube, as he had also been deluged with complaints pertaining to the matter.

-- BERNAMA