KUCHING – The government should consider reinstating the Anti-Fake News Act 2018, which was abolished in 2019, to combat fake news that could put the country’s political stability and social harmony at stake, said Muzaffar Syah Mallow.
The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia faculty of syariah and law associate professor asserted that fake news is misleading information that is aimed at damaging the reputation of a person or entity.
“Fake news can include satirical articles misinterpreted as genuine, and articles that employ sensationalist or clickbait headlines that are not supported in the text.
“The presence of fake news can cause many problems to society. People will become confused by the news presented to them, and they will no longer trust the news reported,” he said in a statement issued in conjunction with the National Journalists’ Day celebration, which falls on May 29.
In Malaysia, Muzaffar said the short-lived act defined fake news as any news, information, data, and reports that are wholly or partly false, whether in the form of features, visuals, audio recordings, or any other forms capable of suggesting words or ideas.
He recalled that the act also provided for extraterritorial application, stating that where an offence was committed by any person, whether a Malaysian citizen or not, outside of Malaysia, and where the fake news concerned Malaysia or affected a Malaysian citizen, it may be dealt with as if it was committed within Malaysia.
According to him, the act also enabled people affected by the publication of fake news to apply for a court order requiring the removal of the publication.
“The government was able to make such an application, and the act provided that where a person was subject to an order obtained by the government in relation to a publication that is prejudicial, or likely to be prejudicial, to public order or national security, he or she cannot apply for the order to be set aside.
“Where a person does not comply with a removal order, police can be authorised by the court to take the necessary measures to remove such publication,” he said.
Muzaffar pointed out that the rationale for the act was to equip the country with a law that could effectively deal with fake news.
“Although there are various existing laws that can be used to address this issue, the rapid and complex development of communications technology means the problem cannot be managed effectively through the existing laws.
“What’s more, the existing laws such as the Penal Code, Printing, Presses and Publications Act 1984, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and Sedition Act 1948 were drafted during or before the 1990s, and could not address the nature of increasingly complex offences in line with the rapid technological progress within the media or news industry,” he added. – Borneo Post Online, May 28, 2023
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