Those who contribute to crowd-sourcing or fundraising campaigns to pay off fines or damages may also be liable, he cautions.
Syahredzan Johan says satirical publications like FakeMalaysiaNews and The Tapir Times may be affected.
PETALING JAYA: A lawyer says the controversial Anti-Fake News Bill 2018 could act as the death knell for satire and parody in the country.
Syahredzan Johan said such satirical publications like FakeMalaysiaNews and The Tapir Times, and works of political graphic designer Fahmi Reza could be affected.
He said those who give financial assistance to those who commit such fake news offences can also be charged.
“There is a clause on this. It means that those who contribute to crowd-sourcing or fundraising campaigns to pay off fines or damages for offenders may also be liable.
“There is also the possibility that this will be used to go after those who pay a subscription to news portals, like Malaysiakini, or those who advertise on certain portals or dailies,” he wrote in his Facebook page.
Syahredzan said if there is a fictional newspaper called “The Cliff” and if it publishes news on 1MDB, the government can say any news on 1MDB which is not from them is “fake news”. The Cliff can then be charged with publishing fake news.
“They can also go after those who advertise in ‘The Cliff’ for providing financial assistance.”
PPBM supreme council member Tariq Ismail says the fake news bill is in principle good and the punishment shows how fake news can pose a security threat.
“However, who determines what exactly is fake news?”
He said if there is a cover-up by the authorities and people start asking questions with supporting documents, this law can be used to silence critics.
Tariq, the grandson of former deputy prime minister Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, said the law is ironic in its timing as the election campaigning period has started and the law might be abused by the powers to be to create a sense of fear among the people.
“If a monkey were able to talk, it too will question the timing and the potential for abuse.
“If the powers that be want to slander their opponents, the actual truth can be suppressed. The real fake news will then be fact,” said Tariq.
PKR’s Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen said there were sufficient laws on defamation and libel under the Criminal Procedure Code.
“No such fake news law should be passed because the government, in handling the 1MDB fiasco, has proven itself as the worse possible arbiter of what is real and what is fake,” Wong Chen said.
The controversial Anti-Fake News Bill 2018, which was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today, proposes that offenders be fined up to RM500,000, with an additional RM3,000 imposed for every day the offence continues. The person can also be jailed for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both.
Under the proposed law, fake news is described as any news, information, data or report which is wholly or partly false, whether in the form of features, visuals, audio recordings or any other form capable of suggesting words or ideas.
So far, only Germany is known to have a law, called the Net Enforcement Act (NetzDG), focusing on hate speech and fake news. It came into full force on Jan 1 this year.
Other countries like Singapore and the Philippines are also discussing introduction of fake news laws.
Fake news bill proposes up to RM500,000 fine for offenders
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