KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — A mechanism is needed to hold social media platforms accountable for the spread of "fake news”, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said.

MCMC network security and enforcement sector chief officer Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin said the "grey area” where social media platforms stand needs to be addressed in the government’s new proposed law to curb fake news.

He said the law should look into defining social media platforms as publishers to enable enforcement against the platforms.

"Social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, they position themselves as social media platform providers, and they can also claim to be technology companies. But if you look at a different perspective, they can also be a publisher,” Zulkarnain told Malay Mail in a recent interview.

"For example, the conventional media has a responsibility and can be accountable for the content published. But it seems that social media platforms don't hold responsibility over what is published on their site simply because they don't have control over it.

"Outside the web, we have the Printing Presses and Publication Act. But in the virtual world, we don't have such laws to impose on online platforms so they can get away scot-free in such cases. This kind of regulatory gap should be addressed through the new law.”

Zulkarnain said the committee is benchmarking against other countries such as Germany and the Philippines in formulating the law, which already have laws to address "fake news”.

He cited an example in Germany where a law was introduced to regulate social media platforms and get them to remove content from their site.

The new law law translates to "Enforcement on Social Networks”, and is also referred to as NetzDG, an abbreviation of its full German name.

"The law poses obligations on platform providers to remove content from their site. If they fail to do so, there would be a penalty imposed towards them.

"The challenge for us now if on how to regulate the internet when it causes disruptions to the business model and general public. Those gaps need to be filled by substantive laws,” he said.

A special committee to draft laws to curb fake news was formed on January 30, following an announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that a law needed to be introduced to curb fake news as people could be instigated to hate the government or cause uprisings.

The committee included representatives from the police, Attorney-General's Chambers, National Security Council, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, the Legal Affairs Division, MCMC, and also non-governmental organisations and Members of Parliament.