PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are in favour of a blanket ban on social media platforms in the event of a crisis. A survey by market research firm Ipsos finds that 75% of Malaysians would accept a blanket ban during such times.
Other countries that strongly favour the temporary ban are India (88%), Saudi Arabia (73%), China (72%) and Britain (69%) and Australia (65%). Countries not to favour of the ban are Argentina (47%), Serbia (49%) and Japan (50%).
“Malaysia is the third highest ranked country (behind India and Saudi Arabia) that trusts its government to decide when to shut down social media platform,” Arun Menon, the managing director of Ipsos in Malaysia said.
The survey was conducted across 28 countries on whether the government should shut down social media platforms during times of strife.
Most Malaysians said they would support the government to stymie the flow of fake news in times of crisis, according to the survey.
“Today’s world is heavily reliant on social media for news and information,” Arun said. “Social media has played a big role in the rise of fake news and spreading rumours.
“Lack of accountability and absence of thorough measures by social media companies to weed out fake content will prompt the public to trust governments to step in with regulations,”
The survey also found that 59% Malaysians trust social media companies to ensure that the content shared on their platforms during times of crisis is factual.
The survey was conducted between May 24 and June 7 this year this year. An international sample of 19,823 adults aged 18-74 in the US, South Africa, Turkey and Canada, and age 16-74 in all other countries, were interviewed.
