This follows the move by the government to go after what it calls fake news.
Last week, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said the proposed registration of online portals could help curb the spread of slander and fake news.
Salleh said his ministry would work with the home ministry to monitor the sites and if any online portals were found to have flouted the rules, action could be taken under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Act or the Sedition Act.
He also revealed his ministry had so far deleted 2,000 fake accounts and was continuing to work closely with social media giants like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
In response, Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders, RSF) Asia-Pacific head Daniel Bastard, said it was aware of the danger posed by fake news, hate speech and other forms of incitement to violence.
More so, when the spread of fake news and its impact is multiplied by social media whose main aim is to keep users connected to their platform for as long as possible.
“But the definition of fake news is totally unclear and the attempts to regulate the dissemination of fake news by governments around the world have proven to be essentially a pretext to muzzle the media.”
He noted that RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire had previously described the fight against fake news as a “propaganda tool” for the “predators of press freedom”.
This situation, Bastard said, exists in both repressive regimes and democracies.
“Recently, RSF expressed its concerns about a draft law in Germany that would impose massive fines on social media networks that fail to quickly remove content of a ‘criminal’ nature.
“The law can lead to excessive content removal and censorship.”
Bastard added that the solution didn’t lie in censorship from the authorities or the private sector, such as social media sites.
“The solution is to be found in the promotion and reinforcement of journalistic standards.”
Politicians on both sides of the divide have in recent times spoken out against “fake news” — a term made popular by United States President Donald Trump.
Both government and opposition politicians have on numerous occasions lamented becoming victims of “fake news”.
In February, Prime Minister Najib Razak said the spread of “fake news”, with the aim of toppling a democratically-elected government, was a new threat the government must counter.
Proposal to register high traffic online sites in final stages