KULAI, Sept 23 — The Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD) is ready to work with the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) to combat fake news about local rice supply in the market.

Its Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching said that KKD has yet to receive any reports or fake news and misleading information about shortages of rice supply so far.

"The most important thing is that we give people accurate information so that there is no panic buying. I think this is only a temporary phenomenon.

"KKD will help KPDN convey the message to the people so that the situation is under control,” she told reporters after handing over 120 tents to traders at Pasar Tani Jalan Merbau, Bandar Putra, today.

Teo, who is also Kulai MP, said the public could lodge a complaint to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) if there were false or misleading news about the local rice supply so that further action could be taken.

Referring to a viral video related to the price of goods involving KPDN Deputy Minister Fauziah Salleh, Teo said the MCMC is yet to receive any report on the matter.

"As far as I know, the deputy minister has lodged a police report. Let the police conduct the investigation and we have not received any complaint in the matter,” she said.

The video showed Fuziah buying groceries for RM136.30 and said she was satisfied that the bill was below RM200.

Meanwhile, Teo said the role of mainstream media in dealing with cybercrime and fake news on social media needs to be strengthened.

"In this day and age, the media still plays a crucial role because there is a lot of information on social media that we do not know where it came from.

"That is why we need to rely on the mainstream media, such as the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), Astro and also newspapers,” she added. — Bernama