Malaysia MCMC now monitoring social media for pro-Israel bias

Following the escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is now reportedly looking closely at several social media platforms for signs of pro-Israel biases.

As one of several countries that have openly voiced their support for Palestine in the conflict and condemned the actions of the Israeli administration, Malaysia has now upped its efforts to monitor a number of platforms for actions that indicate a backing of Israel in the conflict.

Saifuddin Abdullah, who is Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Minister and head of the MCMC, recently took to Twitter to reiterate the government’s support for Palestine while condemning certain platforms of taking down content supportive of the Palestinian plight.

PRESS STATEMENT

In conjunction with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day #WTISD2021 observed on May 17th, I dedicate today’s occasion to the Palestinian cause. I pray for peace and for Israel’s atrocities against them to cease immediately. pic.twitter.com/5fwj5NQ2c2

— Saifuddin Abdullah ?? (@saifuddinabd) May 17, 2021

“I have also learned of, and am following closely developments regarding certain social media platforms that appear to be biased, because it has made too easy an effort to censor content that supports the Palestinian struggle,” he said,

In his tweet thread that came in conjunction with the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day, he issued a press release that called on all telecommunications providers and media agencies, both foreign and local, to work in tandem to “ensure the dissemination of authentic, fair, and accurate information.”

The conflict is both online and offline.

This follows other Malaysian developments related to the crisis, whereby the country has moved to tighten its security following the virality of the #IsraelKoyak hashtag on social media.

Over the past several days, the hashtag has been used by Malaysian and Indonesian netizens to mock the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and their mandate to seek out Hamas operatives both in and out of Gaza, Palestine, which would also include places such as Malaysia.

In one particular example, Jonathan Schanzer – a former terror finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury – was mocked repeatedly by Malaysians with the #IsraelKoyak hashtag for revealing the news of the IDF’s plans to target foreign Hamas operatives.