GE15: The price of deceitful propaganda
SHAH ALAM - As election looms, an expert in online content reminds Malaysian politicians over the hot water they could end-up in should they become too engrossed with their campains and resort to underhanded propaganda just to score brownie points.
Content Forum Executive Director Mediha Mahmood said by making false statements towards certain individuals as part of one's campaigning strategies is an outright offence.
“If you are attacking and harrassing someone or defame or do any of those things in your propaganda campaign; you will be breaching laws,” she told Sinar Daily.
The many forms of political low-blows however, Mediha added, does not end there.
"When you give misinformation or outright lie to your constituents; play around with the statistics to make things look better when it actually isn't. Again this is spreading misinformation and false news," she explained.
And if these politicians are caught red-handed, they could be charged under the Defamation Law under the Election Act.
"Those whom they slandered can sue them, if the former feels like doing so," she said.
As such, Mediha implored on voters to keep a wary eye and always be mindful of the contents put up by politicians.
"Make sure to throughly fact-check their statements," she urged stressing the need for the people to use their common sense in weighing political rhetoric.
“If you feel like you are being misguided by the politicians, call them out on it," Mediha suggested.
Doing so publicly will ensure that others are aware of crediblity of the information.
“However, sometimes politicians can genuinely misspeak, or give wrong facts so if you do call them out, maybe they would appreciate it too,” she said.
Mediha also reminded the public that they too have the right to report on politicians who violated the community guidelines on social media.
If the politicians were seen to be using languages containing discrimination and harrasing other users; they are also subject to the community guidelines similar to other users.
“They are like us. So you can take certain action on them such as report and block their accounts,” she said.
Hence, she said this is why it is important for the generation to have "digital literacy" so that they can avoid being a victim of false information.
“If a third party is paying you to say something, you are actually supposed to disclose it and say that 'this message is from this person'.
"The people of today's generation are smart. They can immediately tell if a particular statement is either scripted or paid," Mediha remarked.
