Press Statement: GE15 Social Media Monitoring and Launch of “Say No to Hate Speech” Portal

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is conducting a hate-speech monitoring project for the 15th General Election (GE15), and launching the “Say No to Hate Speech” portal for citizens as Malaysia gears up for elections.

CIJ and our partners expect hate speech and the dissemination of disinformation to intensify, especially on social media, during GE15. Similar dynamics were at play during previous elections, and when potentially destabilising events threaten those in power. Examples include the period post-Sheraton Move, and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Politicians and other key actors often weaponise inflammatory tropes and rhetoric to control narratives and influence public understanding around issues like race, religion, royalty, gender and LGBTIQ, and refugees and migrants. They do so to advance narrow political interests that do not serve a democracy.

Hate speech, in particular, is problematic. It distracts and diverts attention from solution-focused thinking. It also further increases the potential for harm against individuals and communities at risk.

The aim of this project is to monitor the severity of hate speech and to develop collective responses to hate- based narratives prior to and during GE15, and to enable citizens to respond more effectively when they encounter hate speech online.

The project is divided into two components.

1. Monitoring Component

The severity of speech is determined by the following levels:

Level 1 – Disagreements or non-offensive language
Level 2 – Offensive or discriminatory language
Level 3 – Dehumanising or hostile language
Level 4 – Language that causes incitement or call for violence

We will be monitoring 96 social media accounts across four platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. These will include accounts run by prominent parties and figures like UMNO, PKR, MUDA, DAP, former prime minister Najib Razak, current caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, and Police Diraja Malaysia (PDRM). We will also be monitoring social media accounts belonging to the media and key opinion leaders like Berita Harian, Sin Chew Daily, The Star, Malaysiakini, HRH The Crown Prince of Johor and religious influencer Firdaus Wong. Additionally, patterns of Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviours (CIB) such as bots and cybertroopers will be monitored, too.

To find out more about our preliminary analysis from the pilot Social Media Monitoring Project we conducted from 16 August to 30 September, before Parliament was dissolved, please refer to our microsite.

2. Rapid Response Component

The project’s Rapid Response component involves an alert system built on our monitoring data, which identifies when a particular speech requires a response or action in a timely manner.