KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said neither he nor his officers were behind a request from social network X, formerly Twitter, for a user to delete a tweet.
The minister further said he was not aware of X’s request and has not seen the post in question.
“I have to make it clear that even I’m not aware of whatever he had posted. I didn’t see it at all so I’m not offended and it’s not an issue for me personally, that’s just his opinion.
“So, I can confirm that neither myself or my officers lodged any report with Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on this particular issue,” Fahmi told reporters during a press conference after Pos Malaysia’s launch of the Palestine commemorative stamps to support the call for ceasefire on Gaza.
He said his ministry was instead focused on tackling issues such as illegal online gambling, fake news, things that touch 3R (race, religion, royal) particularly the royal institution.
Fahmi reiterated that he was not involved in the action, either directly or through his personnel.
“MCMC receives complaints from anybody, but generally MCMC doesn’t refer to me before they take any action. They are free to take action, so sometimes it receives complaints from the general public and they’re just following up on the report.
“So, I confirm that I’m not slighted and not affected by the post and I did not make any report,” he said.
An X user @yindian5 reportedly accused the government of involvement in the social media platform’s call for him to remove his tweet from December 12 in which he said Fahmi’s previous portfolio — communication and digital — was broken up in the Cabinet reshuffle this week due to the minister’s performance.
He also mocked Fahmi’s intelligence and called him a “lackey” to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
In the Cabinet reshuffle this week, Anwar split Fahmi’s previous ministry in two and brought back former minister Gobind Singh Deo to take over the new digital portfolio.
