MOST complaints received by the Online Safety Commission (OSC) involve harmful content generated through anonymous or fake social media accounts.
This was confirmed by OSC Commissioner Filipe Batiwale while speaking on The Lens@177 who said the commission works closely with police when dealing with such cases, as law enforcement agencies have the powers to investigate and take action where appropriate.
Mr Batiwale said police can make arrests based on reasonable suspicion, receive complaints directly from the public or the commission, and advance investigations aimed at protecting people in online spaces.
He said police also have powers to search and seize devices in accordance with legal requirements when investigating matters involving fake accounts.
“So what we are experiencing is challenges in terms of understanding this particular legislation and the investigative sort of powers that the police has and what they can do about the complaints that they’re receiving.
“If the review goes through and the laws are passed, with the powers, it would really strengthen the commission because with the current law that we’re working with, it’s a very outdated law.”
According to Mr Batiwale, the current legislation is outdated and was designed to address issues that existed around or before 2018.
He said the online environment had changed significantly since then, with new challenges including artificial intelligence (Ai), child sexual abuse material and cyberbullying carried out through fake accounts.
Mr Batiwale said stronger powers were needed to help protect people online but stressed that the objective was not to monitor individuals, conduct surveillance or restrict freedom of expression.
“It’s about balancing the act with the rights of the individual to freedom of expression, along with promoting safety in an online space that needs to be regulated, and we need to work with the platforms.”
