Malaysia repeals fake news law

Malaysia is the first country to repeal a fake news law, one that had been introduced in March 2018 under the previous prime minister. Rights and press freedom advocates celebrated the change, as Teddy Brawner Baguilat of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights stated: ‘This is a law that was clearly designed to silence criticism of the authorities and to quell public debate – it should never have been allowed to pass in the first place.’ Before passage of the law, it had been called a ‘blatant attempt by the government to prevent any and all news that it doesn’t like, whether about corruption or elections’ by Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.