write only conclusion about Implications of Fake News and Misinformation through Social Media in Malaysia

about 1 paragraph and 450 words maybe

Abstract

According to the phenomenon of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution around the world, fake news has been a national issue for countries including Malaysia. Malaysia has been placed in fifth place most socially active country in the world and the top rank in Southeast Asia according to the statistics of the Digital Report 2019. Day by day, fake news and misinformations is becoming more serious as the social media has been misused by a handful of unethical societies to spread false news and information that can have a negative impact on individuals, families, communities and nations. Thus, we need such tight and tough acts and penalties to fight the misinformation which is mounting especially these days in the global and pandemic era. For example, issues related to harmful human reactions to the COVID-19 vaccination have disseminated on social media for the purpose to scare people into getting the vaccine. Malaysia implemented enforcement to prevent this fake news and misinformation issue with the publication of Anti-Fake News Act 2018 (Act 803) in the Federal Gazette of Malaysia on 9th April 2018. Other existing related laws implemented such as the Penal Code, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and Printing Presses and Publications Acts 1984. This paper aims to identify and show the implications of the fake news and misinformation in Malaysia. It adopted library-based research which includes the secondary and trusted sources related to fake news and misinformation consisting of journals, online databases, news and articles. From all of this research, we found that there are many implications of fake news and misinformation that affect more than we thought. The suggestions are to do more initiatives to prevent the spread of fake news by giving the right exposure to people and giving awareness on various platforms as well as reinforcement of the related laws in order to produce ethical social media users in Malaysia.

Keywords: fake news, misinformation, implication, social media, global issue

Introduction

The culture of spreading fake news amongst the society is believed to be the effect of the development in science and technology. We are in the era where 'everything is on the tip of your fingers' which means that everything can be accessed and spread easily. Fake news is a globally used term for any fake information or misinformation that people think and see as true. "The lingo 'fake news' presents a novel platform for persistent deliberations in relation to reporting practices and integrity, state regulation, preconceived information and suppression" (Suleiman Usman Santuraki, 2019). Despite the actual and main function of science and technology itself, some people have misused it for their own needs. In addition, social media is the platform used widely on the internet to voice out something and to stay connected with others. Multiple platforms on the internet can be used for the people to express themselves freely such as on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.

According to the research by Brooke Auxier and Monica Anderson in 2021 on the Pew Research Center, it is stated that the majority of Americans use social media, especially common among adults under 30. YouTube and Facebook are dominating the online landscape with 81% and 69% respectively. However, the younger people in 18 to 29 years old are more likely to use Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok. In a rough computation, it is shared that seven in ten Americans say they use social media in the remaining five years relatively even though there is news speculating about the controversies and negative sentiments about the use of social media. When it comes to fabricated news, there are many international articles sharing the 2016 U.S Presidential elections situation and disinformation during the World Wars as an example of the huge impact of spreading false information.

At the level of international overview, many countries are dealing with the negative impact of fake news that can cause violence and chaos. They acknowledge the need to regulate the laws to control this matter. This shows the moves intended by the governments to prescribe the fake news and hate speech. Several countries have also taken action by reenacting the laws and giving punitive legislations to regulate fake news and hate speech other than making workshops across the globe including Asia, America, Europe and Africa to give a common understanding about the issue and explore the way of dealing with the issue through the legislative across the mentioned region. That is when the Rabat Plan of Action was adopted to proscribe the order of the public, national security and the respect for others rights as well as adoption to several all-inclusive laws aimed to prevent hateful speech solely.

Currently, fake news is becoming the world's real problem since it has become a challenge to identify and detect the fake news. Many researches show that early detection of fake news can solve this problem other than the regulation of laws. Malaysia is a democratic country where democracy is used in our society, making people think that the term of the right of speech or free speech in this country can be used no matter if it is true or not. Some of them would not know the responsibility of whatever they posted in those social media platforms and do not even intentionally spread misinformation but some of them also do it at their own will, just for fun or to show their hatred towards someone or something.

In the local view, Malaysia received a security threat for failing in the construction of fake news which is framed as a political issue. The Malaysian administration also has done the examination to obtain and understand the perception of netizens towards fake news regarding the Malaysian government. Majority of the respondents accept the empirical problem of fake news has threatened fundamental societal values in Malaysia. The political leaders have voiced out several times regarding how the fake news affected the electoral processes and referendums across the world and can also damage the democratic integrity upon the principles we hold in Malaysia as well as the economy. Thus, the Anti-Fake News legislation in Malaysia has significantly tightened and broadened the power to handle the cases under the fake news that even the police can do the pre-emptive action without a warrant and given the extent of penalties and jail punishment on producers of fake news which exceed the present laws.

Adjacent to this, there is not much of a gap in between the international and local problem of fake news. The fabricated news is equally a significant problem that threatens and gives many implications towards the global society. Many researches and studies are conducted to give the analytical and analogy to stop this issue by giving the ways of fake news early detection and how to spread the awareness of the society about their responsibility towards any news and information shared and spreaded by them. Even in today's society, this issue is still concerning many people and receiving such good attention especially during the pandemic in which much news and information is speculated and manipulated.

The Legal Position on Fake News in Malaysia

After taking effect in March, the Anti-Fake News Ordinance has been beneficial in reducing disinformation, according to Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.The Malaysian government promulgated the Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021 was enacted by the Malaysian government on March 11, 2021. Among other things, COVID-19-related false news is criminalized under the Ordinance, which also includes clauses that revoke legal protections. The Anti-Fake News Act of 2018 was abolished in late 2019, and this is a more virulent version of that law. Germany's Network Enforcement Act of 2017 is wrongly linked to this law, which follows the pattern of anti-fake news legislation. As a result of the NetzDG's inadvertent godmothering of numerous such regulations, the worldwide fight against false news has gained a measure of faith. AFNA has been converted into the Ordinance. There are a few notable differences between this Act and the preceding one, even though most of it has been recycled. When it comes to COVID-19 and emergency declarations, the Ordinance defines fake news to include any news, information, data, and reports, which are completely or partially false relative to COVID-19 or the proclamation of emergency (Balakrishnan, Ng & Rahim, 2021). Compared to AFNA, this definition is more minor since it just includes information on the pandemic.

As outlined in detail in Ordinance Segment 4, an act that is done "intentionally or which is likely to create fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public," such as creating, offering, publishing, printing and disseminating false information, is punishable by law. The Ordinance, in contrast to AFNA, criminalizes merely malicious activity or the mere probability of fear or alarm rather than the purpose that underlies AFNA's definition. The maximum penalty is a fine of up to 100,000 ringgit (approximately 20,000 Euro) or three years in jail. AFNA has specified a minimum payment of 500,000 ringgit and a maximum of six years in service (Hasbullah et al., 2021). According to the Ordinance, Section 5 makes it a crime to provide money to someone else to help conduct or facilitate an offense under Section 4. Even though the sentence is almost identical to AFNA's (500,000 ringgit and six years), the doctrinally dubious circumstance that aid is punished much more than the significant conduct of the offense raises questions about the legality of the provision.

Parts IV (Evidence) and V (Enforcement) of the Ordinance include vexing components absent from AFNA. Any contradictions between the Ordinance and the Evidence Act 1950 are deemed immaterial under Section 10 of the Ordinance. The accused's self-incriminating remarks are admissible in court (Section 12). Under Sections 17 and 19, police officers have the authority to make arrests, get access to computer records, and keep track of and use traffic data (Sections 20, 21). In none of these scenarios a court order is required. "In respect of any act, negligence, or failure done or omitted by it or him in good faith, in carrying out the provision of this Ordinance," Section 27 absolves the government and any official of any blame. It's a remarkable comeback for him. AFNA has risen from the dead and, for the time being at least, has grown a new set of fangs (Neo, 2021). As a result, Southeast Asia is one of the world's leading testbeds for laws to combat false news.

METHODOLOGY

The information from this research is adopted from the library-based research which includes the secondary and trusted sources related to fake news and misinformation. This qualitative research method helps to provide better understanding about the terms used and issues brought up in this research. The primary sources of this research are the regulations of fake news under the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, Anti-Fake News Act 2018 (Act 803), Printing Presses and Publications Acts 1984. and the Penal Code, and the secondary sources consisting of journals, online databases, news and articles. The researchers had gone through several trusted pieces of information to transcribe and analyze their contents. The researchers then conducted the qualitative data analysis through thematic and content analyses. The process of making this research includes the overviewing of the resources mentioned and turning it into useful information about the phenomenal issue, fake news and misinformation while getting into the main aim of this research which is to show the implications of the fake news and misinformation through social media in Malaysia with the consideration of the perception and experience of the researchers as well as the literal review and legal literature. The findings obtained from the research including the existing legislation and cyberstalking literature will be discussed further in the continuation of the research below.

Malaysia Uses Emergency Powers to Impose 'Fake News' Law

Malaysia is using new powers under emergency rule to increase jail time for spreading what authorities call fake news about the coronavirus pandemic or the emergency itself, sidestepping the usual route through Parliament. The government says tougher penalties are needed to fight off mounting misinformation about the pandemic, which has hit Malaysia harder than most of its neighbors. Lawyers, reporters and rights groups fear the tougher penalties portend a crackdown on government critics, calling the measures "dangerous" and "draconian." Malaysia is utilizing new emergency powers to raise prison sentences for propagating "fake news" about the coronavirus outbreak or the emergency itself, bypassing the traditional process via Parliament. To combat rising misinformation about the pandemic, which has impacted Malaysia harder than most of its neighbors, the government thinks stronger punishments are needed.

Lawyers, journalists, and human rights organizations are concerned that the harsher punishments may lead to a crackdown on government critics, calling the measures ``dangerous" and "draconian. It's all in the details.Malaysia's fake news code, which went into effect in January, imposes a three-year prison sentence for publishing or spreading any "wholly or partly false" material concerning the epidemic or a state of emergency. Those who help fund the release of that material may face double prison sentences. Parliament was halted due to the state of emergency declared by King Al-Sultan Abdullah at the request of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. The new guidelines were announced by the administration that went into effect. The public outcry has been quick and powerful. Lawyers and human rights organizations believe the order's details, as well as its absence, are alarming. They claim the rules lack a clear definition of false news, effectively allowing authorities to flout the country's Evidence Act's standards for prosecuting alleged crimes. According to Ding Jo Ann, an adviser to Malaysia's Center for Independent Journalism, "it means it would be very easy for them to practically charge anyone under this statute." The bill "would create a climate of terror" by forcing penalties and jail time on anyone who refuses to reveal passwords or encryption codes to authorities investigating linked cases, according to Lawyers for Liberty, a local rights group. According to the Malaysian Bar Council, the ordinance allows authorities to disregard several fair trial principles, making it a "very dangerous piece of legislation that has the potential to be exploited." According to the state-run news agency Bernama, authorities cannot be sued for how they apply the ordinance, even if they commit mistakes "in good faith."

What is the difference between fact and fiction? Ding believes the government would be better served in combating false news if it did more to educate Malaysians distinguish between reality and fiction online and urged social media companies to prevent misinformation and disinformation from spreading. Instead of risking suffocating news that could genuinely help, Bugher advised that the government beef up its own fact-checking and fact-sharing programs. What's worrying about laws like these is that it can sometimes tamp down good-faith discussion of issues that need to be discussed, because if people don't feel that they have the ability to say something wrong without going to jail then they're not going to discuss matters," he said.

"In the context of a pandemic, for example, you really want people to share concerns if they think there may be an outbreak or if you think that the government is not doing what it should to address an outbreak in a certain area," he added. "These types of laws can really chill that type of speech." What's concerning about laws like these is that they can sometimes stifle good-faith debate of issues that need to be aired, since "if people don't feel like they can say something improper without facing jail time, they won't discuss matters," he explained." In the case of a pandemic, for example, you really want people to communicate their worries if they think there might be an epidemic or if you think the government isn't doing enough to address an outbreak in a certain location," he continued. "These kinds of regulations can really put a damper on that kind of discourse."

FINDINGS

Implications of Fake News and Misinformation through social media in Malaysia

Damaging the Name and Reputation

Every person and organization has their own name and reputation that they uphold in life. To create such a good reputation needs so much more than just effort but it could be ruined in just a short amount of time because of the turning point of bad news revolving around them. Society in general will give negative perspectives right after the bad news spreaded and the worst thing is that the person or organization involved in the misinformation would get so much hate without having the chance to prove the fakeness of the news and the truth behind it.

Conclusion