Credit : Bernama
MELAKA, November 1, 2026 – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will not interfere in social media campaigning by any of the parties contesting the 16th Melaka state election, Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said on Sunday, Bernama reported.
Instead, he said, the commission would carry out active monitoring and would only take action or open an investigation into a social media post if it received a complaint from the public, according to Bernama.
“So far, these are the two mechanisms MCMC will use for any posts involving the campaigns of contesting parties on social media platforms,” he said when asked how MCMC would monitor the online space during the campaign for the November 14 polls.
Fahmi was speaking at a press conference after attending the Safe Internet Programme (Program Internet Selamat) at the Multimedia University (MMU) Melaka campus in Bukit Beruang.
Fake accounts and deepfakes
He said MCMC would also watch for the misuse of social media accounts to spread false information, the use of deepfakes and other fabricated content, and grossly offensive material.
“We are also monitoring a trend where content is uploaded by a fake account. Once the content has been uploaded, the fake account disappears. This happens often, and not only during the state election as we expect. It is increasingly being detected and is quite worrying,” he said.
“We found a lot of content that had earlier made insulting statements about the Yang di-Pertuan Agong came from accounts based abroad. When we looked into it, we found that most of those accounts, or 98 per cent, were fake accounts, so we are taking this seriously,” he added. The 98 per cent figure is the minister’s own and Bernama did not give further detail.
Asked about Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) decision to name Parti Amanah Negara vice-president Adly Zahari as its choice for Chief Minister, Fahmi, who is also PH’s communications director, described Adly as an experienced figure. “He is experienced, has served two terms as a state assemblyman and was once Chief Minister, so there is no problem,” he said. PH election director Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari had earlier said Adly, the coalition’s candidate for Bukit Katil, would be its poster boy and Chief Minister candidate if PH wins. The Bernama report did not carry a response from Barisan Nasional, Perikatan Nasional or other parties.
Candidates told to respect the media
Separately, at the Ministry of Communications media centre in Ayer Keroh on Sunday, Fahmi advised candidates to respect and value the presence of media practitioners throughout the campaign, Bernama reported. He urged journalists to report to the police immediately if they faced an uncomfortable situation while working in the field, and to report to the Malaysian Media Council if their content was plagiarised or taken without permission.
“We do not want anyone stealing information or stealing content from a media outlet without giving credit or naming the source. If there are such cases, I hope our media friends will report them to the Malaysian Media Council,” he told reporters after visiting the centre, accompanied by the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Abdul Halim Hamzah and Information Department director-general Erwin Khairul Ahmad.
Fahmi said that besides the main media centre in Ayer Keroh, 39 National Information Dissemination Centres (NADI) in Melaka had also been made media centres where journalists could work and rest between assignments. An MCMC complaints counter was available for any internet problems, and he encouraged journalists to download the MCMC Nexus app and use it to report any coverage blind spots in the state.
Key dates
The 16th Melaka state election formally began with nomination on October 31, after the state assembly was dissolved with effect from September 23. The Election Commission (SPR) has fixed November 10 for early voting and November 14 as polling day, with 79 candidates contesting the 28 state seats and 687,697 registered voters, according to the SPR.
Credit : Bernama
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