MCMC: No one, not even VIPs, will be exempted once fake news law comes into effect

It will also allow MCMC to order social media platforms to remove offensive posts

NO one will be exempted, be they VIPs, politicians, celebrities or the man on the street, once the new law governing the dissemination of fake news takes effect.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Network Security, New Media Monitoring, Compliance and Advocacy Sector chief officer Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek said no one would be exempt from the proposed law as it was enacted to protect the people.

He said with the introduction of the new law, agencies such as the MCMC would be empowered to get court orders to force platform providers, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to remove postings which were in breach of Malaysian law.

“The act does not discriminate. The act draws (heavily) on the courts. It doesn’t matter whether the person is a member of the opposition, a minister or whoever.

“We can also ask platform providers, such as Facebook, to remove postings,” he said yesterday at the Bicara BH forum on cyber slander, which was held at Balai Berita, here.

Fadhullah said currently, MCMC did not have any authority to direct social media platforms to block, delete or drop postings on accounts that breached the country’s laws and norms.

“Our norms are different from theirs. Despite us having issues with a certain posting, they may not see a problem with it. So, many of the cases we raised have to be resolved discretely.”

He said the commission was hard pressed in getting the upper hand in 30 per cent of such negotiations with social media platform providers.

Most of the time, the MCMC would argue that such offensive postings was against Rukun Negara, but the platform providers countered by stating that national principles were not law.

Fadhullah revealed that political issues dominated the fake news sphere in Malaysia, followed by entertainment and health related matters.

He added that the monitoring of fake news would still be dependent on the need for members of the public to highlight them.

Fadhullah said even developed countries did not have an agency to monitor the spread of fake news, due to the borderless and limitless nature of the Internet.

He also said the law against fake news was not something new, as it had already been introduced in some countries.

“In Germany, the maximum penalty for spreading fake news is 44 million Euros (RM212 million).

“Many countries such as the United Kingdom and Indonesia had also started the ball rolling on the matter,” he added.

He also said the MCMC had the technology to extract fake news, allowing the Attorney-General’s Chambers to present it as forensic evidence in court.

The forum also featured KRU Studios chief executive officer Datuk Norman Abdul Halim and Religious expert Dr Farid Ravi Abdullah.