Last month, the Federal Court in the case of Peguam Negara Malaysia v Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd & Another (Case No. 08(L)-4-06/2020) found Mkini Dot Com Sdn Bhd, the owner and operator of the Malaysian online news portal ‘Malaysiakini’ (“Malaysiakini”), guilty of contempt of court in relation to third-party comments that were posted on Malaysiakini’s website. In our previous Update issued last month, we provided an interim analysis on the Federal Court’s summary grounds of decision for both the majority and minority decisions. Essentially, the majority decision found Malaysiakini liable based on section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950 (“EA 1950”) which raises the legal presumption that Malaysiakini, as the news portal owner, was the publisher of the said comments.
The recent issuance of the full grounds of judgment for both the majority and minority decisions has provided a clearer picture of the reasoning adopted by the Federal Court in arriving at its decision. Based on the full grounds of both judgments, this Update seeks to provide a further analysis on the Federal Court’s finding in relation to the liability of online intermediary platforms as the presumed publisher under section 114A of the EA 1950 and examine its potential impact on content regulation in Malaysia.
For more information, click here to read the full Legal Update.
