Malaysian government using fake news law to crush freedom of speech - CNET
▻https://www.cnet.com/news/malaysian-government-passing-fake-news-laws
The bill makes not only creating fake news illegal, but also sharing it. A Malaysian citizen could be punished, then, for simply retweeting fake news. If found guilty, Malaysians can be sentenced to prison for up to six years and fined up to 500,000 Malaysian ringgit (which roughly converts to $130,000). Plus, it’s not a domestic law — it applies to those outside the country who are responsible for fake news.
“This legislation is problematic on so many different levels,” David Kaye, clinical professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, said to CNET. “The definition of fake news is so broad it seems like the government could decide anything could be fake news. On top of that, it has these extraordinarily harsh penalties.”
Case study: A scandal erupted in 2015 around Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak when the Wall Street Journal reported that around $700 million in funds were transferred from a state-owned company to his personal bank accounts. Over 10 sites were taken down for reporting on this, according to EFF.
With the new fake news law, journalists who wrote those stories and citizens who shared them online could face legal punishment and even jail time. That includes international journalists.
“[The new law] applies to non-Malaysian citizens internationally if ’fake news’ published overseas involves Malaysian citizens,” said a Khairil Yusof, team coordinator at Sinar Project, an organization that defends digital rights of citizens in Malaysia. “For example the WSJ journalists that broke the story [that alleged Prime Minister Razak’s corruption] face the possibility of being jailed and fined when visiting Malaysia.”
