Regulating Online Speech in Malaysia Playing the Devil’s Advocate on the Fake News Law Dichotomy

Mazlina Mohamad Mangsor, Mazlifah Mansoor, Noraiza Abdul Rahman

2018

Abstract

On 2 April 2018, the Malaysian House of Representative passed the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 (‘AFNA 2018’). The former Law Minister emphasised that the objective of the legislation is to protect the public from the proliferation of fake news. On the contrary, advocates of human rights criticise that the new law is extremely vague and disrespectful of the right to freedom of speech. Thus, the fake news legislation creates a dichotomy between maintaining public order and nurturing the fundamental rights of the citizen in a democratic society. This paper argues that regulating online speech in Malaysia under the AFNA 2018 scheme still raises concerns with regard to the infringement of the right to freedom of speech and requires the urgent attention from the relevant authorities. This paper aims to critically examine the normative aspects of the AFNA 2018 and other relevant legislation addressing false content. This paper commences with a constitutional review of the AFNA 2018. It continues to discuss other existing laws. This paper concludes that AFNA 2018 contains a number of flaws that does not promote ones’ constitutional right to freedom of speech. This paper employs a qualitative and doctrinal research method through content analysis approach

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Mangsor M., Mansoor M. and Rahman N. (2018). Regulating Online Speech in Malaysia Playing the Devil’s Advocate on the Fake News Law Dichotomy.In Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC, ISBN 978-989-758-482-4, pages 163-170. DOI: 10.5220/0010053501630170

in Bibtex Style

@conference{i-nlac18,
author={Mazlina Mohamad Mangsor and Mazlifah Mansoor and Noraiza Abdul Rahman},
title={Regulating Online Speech in Malaysia Playing the Devil’s Advocate on the Fake News Law Dichotomy},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,},
year={2018},
pages={163-170},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010053501630170},
isbn={978-989-758-482-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,
TI - Regulating Online Speech in Malaysia Playing the Devil’s Advocate on the Fake News Law Dichotomy
SN - 978-989-758-482-4
AU - Mangsor M.
AU - Mansoor M.
AU - Rahman N.
PY - 2018
SP - 163
EP - 170
DO - 10.5220/0010053501630170