Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) is concerned over Putrajaya's decision to establish a special committee to formulate laws in order to curb fake news.
“Attempting to regulate what is true or false in cyberspace is futile as obviously, no one has a monopoly over the truth,” said its executive director Eric Paulsen in a statement.
According to him, the government should focus on educating the public to be vigilant and aware of the sources of information so that they become more discerning in consuming and sharing news content with others.
Paulsen said while LFL agreed that fabricated news is a concern, efforts to curb it, however, should not come at the expense of freedom of speech, expression, information and the press.
“Questions must surely be asked as to how the special committee will define fake news. For example, there is a distinction to be made between information that is blatantly fabricated and information that has been spun to lean a certain way, a la political propaganda and legitimate news reporting but containing errors.
“Can we seriously expect the authorities to be the impartial arbiter or will they arbitrarily interpret unfavourable news as fake news? Will we have an Orwellian version of the 'truth' i.e. it is only 'true' if the information has been verified by the government?” he asked.
Paulsen said there are serious concerns that disputed or genuine errors in reporting would be used as a pretext to attack independent media outlets.
“We have seen Malaysiakini investigated numerous times and its editor in chief and the chief executive officer charged for uploading a video of an allegedly 'offensive' press conference.
“The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has also arbitrarily blocked access to several websites due to genuine reporting that has upset the government, including The Malaysian Insider, causing the news portal to shut down,” he added.
Paulsen argued that fake news is not the exaggerated threat to public order or national security that the government has made it out to be but merely the reality of the internet and social media.
He said the authorities must come to terms with the fact that any individual with access to information and communication technology and sinister intentions can readily create and disseminate fake news.
The lawyer also pointed out that numerous laws exist with regard to tackling speeches or communication deemed offensive such as the Penal Code, Communications, and Multimedia Act, Sedition Act and Printing Presses and Publications Act.
“With such a wide web of legislation, is there a need for more laws that can potentially be misused as, after all, we see these laws being unfairly and selectively used against those who are perceived as anti-government while those who are pro-government are usually let off,” he said.
