KUALA LUMPUR: Nearly 1,900 investigation papers (IPs) have been opened by police involving cases related to social media since January 2019, says Bukit Aman.

       They also opened 254 investigations into fake news on Covid-19 since the first movement control order on March 18 last year.

       Federal CID director Comm Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hassan said they opened 1,897 IPs between January 2019 and Tuesday (June 22).

       "Of that number, 185 involved royal institutions, 112 involved racial issues, 168 involved insulting religion, 248 involved the government and 1,184 cases involved individuals or agencies.

       "To date, 844 cases or 44.5% have been solved while 1,053 cases are still under investigation," he said in a statement on Wednesday (June 23).

       He said between March 18 last year and June 20 this year, police also recorded 254 cases involving fake news on Covid-19.

       "Of this number, 109 cases have been solved while the remaining 145 are still under investigation," he said.

       Comm Abdul Jalil said the investigations were conducted by the Bukit Aman Special Investigations Unit under the CID Prosecution and Law Division (D5).

       "Investigations were conducted in line with Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for misuse of networking facilities or networks if elements such as sedition, defamation, public mischief, or government were found.

       "This also included elements such as race, rulers, religion, high profile cases, or influential individuals," he said.

       Comm Abdul Jalil urged the public not to misuse social media to publish news or information which could not be verified.

       "Any dissemination of fake news, or with seditious tendencies as well as news which could cause public anxiousness via social media could be investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act and all available laws," he said.