'Fake news' offenders face RM500k fine and 10-year-jail under proposed bill

Updated 6 years ago · Published on 26 Mar 2018 11:41AM · 5 Comments

THE Anti-Fake News Bill 2018 that Putrajaya has tabled today proposes a fine of up to RM500,000 or 10-year jail term for those found guilty of spreading false news.

The bill also defines “fake news” as “any news, information, data and reports, which is or wholly or partly false, whether in the form of features, visuals or audio recordings or in any other form capable of suggesting words or ideas”.

Publications that reproduce “fake news” will also be charged up to RM100,000 for the offence and a further RM300,000 for every day the offence continues.

The bill defines publication as “any written publication or publication of similar nature… or substantial reproduction of such publication”.

The bill appeared to give authority to the courts to determine what is fake news, as it allows “any person affected by a publication containing fake news” to apply to the courts for removal of those articles.

The application to the courts must be accompanied by a police report and supporting documents.

The publisher of the alleged fake news also has recourse to set aside an application against him by applying to set aside the court’s order on the removal of the item within 14 days from the date the order was served on him.

However, if the court grants an order for removal to the government relating to “fake news which is prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order or national security”, the bill says there is no recourse for the person or publication ordered to remove such content to apply to set aside the order.

The bill also gave several explicit examples of instances where fake news is produced, including reproductions of unverified allegations from blog posts.

“‘A’ gives a speech during a public forum held in a public place. In his speech, ‘A’ informs that ‘Z’ has misappropriated money collected for charitable purposes, knowing that the information is false.

“‘A’ is guilty of an offence under this section,” read the bill.

In another example, the bill said a person who publishes information that he or she did not know was false, will not be considered guilty of an offence.

“‘A’ offers false information to ‘B’, for ‘B’ to publish in his blog. ‘B’, not knowing the information offered by ‘A’ is false, publishes the information in his blog.

“‘A’ is guilty of an offence under this section. ‘B’ is not guilty of an offence under this section.”

Other examples are clear on a person’s guilt, if he or she knew that the information published and shared was expressly false. – March 26, 2018.

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Comments

  • Sellers and propagators of the fake news in the Bible and Koran are going to be in deep shite

    Posted 6 years ago by Dennis Da Menace · Reply

  • Who is the authority of true news? How about if the govt themselves propagates fake news? Is this fake news law is to cover up truths? Umno leaders n mouthpieces has issue many fake news in the past. The problem is Najib is afraid of truths n he's enacting this law to protect himself

    Posted 6 years ago by Peace Maker · Reply

  • This is nothing but an oppressive law to rein in those who oppose the government. There are defamation laws already in place to obtain justice for those who claim they are victims of slander. It's impossible to control the spreading of news, fake or otherwise in this digital age....short of banning Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

    Posted 6 years ago by Chris Sav · Reply

  • I believe more voters will get pissed off and start swinging over to the opposition.

    Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • What about people who talk cock only? Do they get penalised. Or they get a cock as a reward

    Posted 6 years ago by Fadzil MohdSalleh · Reply