KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,147 social media content related to cyberbullying were taken down from Jan 1 to Nov 15 this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching said of the total, 894 contents were taken down from the TikTok platform followed by Facebook with 195, X application with seven, Instagram (seven), YouTube (nine) and others (123).
Earlier, Teo said she agreed that cyberbullying among youths is not a trivial issue.
"I strongly agree with Masjid Tanah's view that this cyberbullying, especially among youths, is not a trivial issue and should not be taken lightly.
"For that reason, I am open to the proposal to enact a special act regarding cyberbullying.
"I will take this proposal for discussion at the ministry level, as well as with the relevant stakeholders to see which ministry is suitable to put forward the act," she said in response to Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN-Masjid Tanah).
Mas Ermieyati, in her supplementary question, asked if the ministry or other relevant ministries have plans to establish an act specifically to address cyberbullying more comprehensively among youths.
Meanwhile, in reply to the initial question also by Mas Ermieyati, Teo said among the measures taken to prevent social media abuse is through various advocacy efforts aimed at raising awareness about the use of social media as well as providing exposure to risks and threats due to the misuse of the internet.
"This includes the Klik Dengan Bijak initiative and Malaysia ICT Volunteer (MIV).
"Through the MIV programme with schools, participants are given exposure to online child protection, so they are more aware of personal safety when using internet and social media applications. "This allows the students to be more vigilant when online and stay away from any exploitation."
She said the MCMC in collaboration with enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders continuously carry out advocacy programmes for users through various platforms.
Mas Ermieyati asked about the measures taken to prevent the misuse of social media to the extent that suicide cases have been reported as a result of cyberbullying on the TikTok platform.