In fact, he said, at present, the government does not issue any licence to any social media platform provider, including instant messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, WeChat, MiChat and the like.
"However, for applications that clearly violate the provisions of the law such as fraud and impersonation, appropriate action can be taken against them, including blocking the applications from being used by users in Malaysia.
'"...enforcement actions taken by the government are based on public complaints or reports from affected parties according to the existing laws," he said during question time at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.
Fahmi said this in reply to P. Prabakaran (PH-Batu) who wanted to know whether the government intends to review the permission to use Telegram, WeChat, MiChat and several other chat applications that are seen to have a lot of negative impact on the young generation.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said the government will assess the importance of creating a cross-ministerial committee to examine the effects of cyber and digital use on young people and aspects of digital security from time to time.
He said the ministry had also carried out various programmes such as awareness campaigns through agencies including MCMC and CyberSecurity Malaysia and established partnerships with telecommunications companies Celcom and Digi.
For example, he said the collaboration through the National Anti-Scam Tour launched last Saturday aimed at increasing awareness among the general public about the importance of being vigilant when using social media.
-- BERNAMA
