Don’t shoot the messenger: Appellate Court says ‘offensive’ online remarks to ‘annoy’ can’t be a crime in Malaysia

AI Summary

Malaysia's Court of Appeal has declared parts of Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 unconstitutional. The court ruled that the provisions criminalizing online remarks intended to "annoy" or deemed "offensive" violate freedom of speech. The ruling, effective for ongoing and future cases, removes the criminality of such online posts. Activist Heidy Quah's legal challenge succeeded, but the government may appeal to the Federal Court. The judges criticized the law's lack of objective standards for defining "offensive" content, highlighting the potential to stifle free speech and criminalize truthful statements.