Minister denies KL is behind suspension of Malaysiakini's Facebook pages

Episode involving news site raises concerns about media freedom under PM Anwar

- Muzliza Mustafa

pendent media outlet Malaysiakini on Sept 30, an event that raised hackles about media freedom.

Facebook owner Meta also did not suspend those accounts for a couple of hours on Sept 30, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told reporters, saying he had contacted the company's top official in Singapore.

His response raised questions about the hidden hand behind the suspension of the Facebook pages of Malaysiakini and KiniTV from around 6pm on Sept 30. This was soon after Malaysiakini published a story alleging that a network of accounts was boosting support for the Facebook page of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

"I would like to clarify that I and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) did not receive any complaints or file any investigation regarding this report. We also reached out to Meta on the matter," Datuk Fahmi said during a weekly media briefing in Putrajaya.

He further said that a special team from Meta, which is based in Singapore and reviews Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour (CIB) issues, "confirmed that no CIB activity was detected among the 263 accounts and that no Facebook page was removed".