PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - AirAsia boss Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has said the time has come to shut down his Twitter account, saying that social media has become an angry place.

"Having closed Facebook time is coming to shut down Twitter. Bene (sic) such a fan but too much negativity and falsehood and anger. It's been an amazing ride. Feel much better now not on Facebook and am sure will be even better without Twitter. Social media has become an angry place," he said in a tweet on Sunday (Jan 12).

In March last year, Mr Fernandes closed his Facebook account, citing "hate" being transmitted on the networks after the live-streaming of the terror attack on two mosques in New Zealand.

At the time, he also said he might shut down his Twitter page as well.

"The amount of hate that goes on in social media sometimes outweighs the good," the AirAsia Group chief executive officer had said in a Twitter post on March 17 last year.

"But on Twitter I think the battle for me goes on," he had added.

Mr Fernandes has about 1.3 million followers on Twitter and has tweeted more than 21,400 times since joining in 2008.

At the time of writing, Fernandes' account was still accessible.