Abstract:
Lately, there are efforts of proposing fake news law and it is said to combat the spreading of alleged fake news. One of the issues that arise is what amount to fake news and the differences between fake news and real news. Further, there is no specific interpretation of what amount to fake news or real news. Germany is the first country to introduce fake news laws and criminalising offences, such as making falsified public information. Previously, Malaysia passed the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 which was passed by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government just before the 14th general election in 2018 and which was subsequently repealed in 2019 by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration. Recently, the federal government has gazetted an ordinance to combat "fake news" relating to Covid-19 or the emergency proclamation. The Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021 dated March 11 2021, which takes effect 12 March 2021, stated that "fake news" includes any news, information data and reports related to Covid-19 or proclamation of emergency powers whether in the forms of features, visuals or audio recordings. The Emergency Ordinance is said to grant the courts the powers to order the removal of a publication if it is determined to be "fake news" and failing which the court may order the police or an authorised officer to do so. Other countries passed a law on fake news, specifically on Covid-19, such as Hungary, Philippines and Vietnam. On the surface of the existing laws and propose laws on fake news, it is said that it could curb the spreading of the alleged fake news. However, there are criticism against the existing and the proposed fake news laws. This study aims to analyse the current law and the proposed law on fake news in other jurisdictions. This study also aims to contribute to the existing knowledge of fake news law and be a guide for other jurisdictions that intend to propose the law.
