The proliferation of “fake news” due to the rise of social media in Malaysia had made Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low sympathise with US President Donald Trump.

“I believe that I sympathise with Donald Trump. I think he also faces that problem (of fake news) in America.

“But that is part and parcel of the new (social media) where everybody can say anything and everything, regardless of whether it is true or not,” Low said in his speech at the ‘Demcracy in Southeast Asia: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects’ conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He had earlier explained that the impact of social media had provided easy and fast access to information which created an intensive political competition in communicating the right information to the voting public...