WHAT looks like a noble idea by Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil at the outset to circumvent Meta Platforms Inc’s incessant removal of Palestinian-related social media postings - including those belonging to prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim - has been shot down by netizens.

For context, the Pantai MP said the government may develop a social media app specifically for Malaysians so as to prevent major social media platforms from profiting off Malaysians but fail to ensure user safety.

However, the top two comments which appeared on the post by BFM News on the X platform centred on how the current government plans to put the dream app in order when it cannot even manage to get existing websites at ministries and government agencies to function at optimum level.

As such, there is likely to be wastage in terms of time and money with the initiative ending up as a “white elephant project”, according to the commenters.

A cheeky netizen went on to suggest that the said app should be named “FahmiApp” after its ‘founder’ with the tagline “Equipped with Anti-Government Insult Protocol”.

A big lesson to learn from is that of the MySejahtera app which has every potential to be developed into a one-stop superapp and also single sign-on (SSO) for all government agencies like Singpass but the app which was once so instrumental in managing the COVID-19 outbreaks in the country has become ‘obsolete’ today.

As one netizen vouched, nobody is likely to sign up for the app if there is no incentive to do so or in other words, only for them to be tracked by the authorities for posting anti-government content.

Moreover, netizens also questioned who is going to fund such extravagant project as well as how will the app “which is developed and managed entirely by the government guarantee user safety”.

Lastly, one netizen pointed to the “somehow no longer functioning Sebenarnya.my app” which he deemed as a “waste of resources”.

For the record, the Sebenarnya.my portal was rolled out in March 2017 by the then Communications and Multimedia Ministry in collaboration with Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for the public to verify news contents which have not been authenticated either through social media, SMS (short messaging services), blogs or websites. - Aug 6, 2024

https://focusmalaysia.my/fears-abound-fahmis-grandiose-malaysian-specific-social-media-app-is-a-white-elephant-in-the-making/