Latest news with #digitalregulation
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Fahmi: Malaysia's Online Safety Act to strengthen digital protections, enforcement expected soon
PUTRAJAYA, June 18 — The Online Safety Act 2024 is expected to be enforced soon after several key processes related to the legislation are finalised, according to Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil. Fahmi, who is also Madani Government spokesperson, said he is currently awaiting the draft of the Act from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which includes the regulations to be adopted. 'Once the draft is ready and I sign the gazette to enforce the Act, then it will come into effect,' he said at his weekly press conference today. Fahmi said that a committee will also be set up by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, to oversee the implementation of the Act. 'This committee will have regulatory powers over the enforcement of the Act, such as defining what constitutes online harms,' he explained. Prior to this, Azalina said that the new law would come into force once the Communications Minister signs the enforcement order, enabling the government to act swiftly to remove illegal content. Under the Act, platform providers are also required to comply with specified duties of care. Azalina noted that while the Online Safety Act focuses on platform regulation and digital responsibilities, any issues involving children must be addressed within the framework of the Child Act 2001. In a related development, Fahmi said sign language interpreters will have increased involvement in key programmes to facilitate communication with persons with disabilities (PwD). 'Insya-Allah, I will strive to ensure that sign language interpreters are not only present during Communications Ministry press conferences but also in upcoming parliament sessions and other areas. We want to highlight the role of sign language interpreters,' he added. — Bernama
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Azalina: Online Safety Act coming into force soon, targets digital harm to children
BANGI, June 16 — Malaysia is set to enforce the Online Safety Act 2024 soon following its full passage through Parliament and Royal Assent. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, said the Act has already been gazetted and is now awaiting the official enforcement date to be signed by Communications Minister, Datuk Fahmi Fadzil. She said the law will give authorities greater powers to regulate digital platforms and bolster safeguards, particularly to protect children from online harm. Azalina said the law will come into force as soon as Fahmi signs the enforcement order, enabling the government to act swiftly in removing unlawful content. Under the Act, platform providers will also be required to uphold a defined duty of care. 'After that, there will be a joint council (Online Safety Committee) to define online harms,' she said at a press conference after the monthly assembly of the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) and launch of the National Legal Academy (APN), here today. Azalina said that while the Online Safety Act centres on platform regulation and digital responsibility, any matter involving children must also be viewed through the lens of the Child Act 2001. On a separate note, she stressed the urgent need for stronger legal frameworks to ensure corporate accountability, particularly in cases involving public safety and transport negligence. Citing the recent bus crash that claimed the lives of 15 UPSI students, Azalina called for policy-level discussions on corporate liability, including the potential introduction of corporate manslaughter laws. 'How can a company run a business and not be held responsible? Take the example of what happened with Air India. If something goes wrong mechanically, it should not be enough to just pay out insurance. Someone must be held accountable,' she stressed. — Bernama
Russia Today
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Macron threatens social media ban for minors
France will block social media access for children under 15 'within a few months' if the EU does not take coordinated action, French President Emmanuel Macron stated following a deadly knife attack at a local school. 'We must ban social media for those under 15,' Macron told the broadcaster France 2 on Tuesday. Hours earlier, a 14-year-old student attacked a 31-year-old teaching assistant during a school bag check for weapons in Nogent in eastern France. He then injured a police officer with the same knife and was arrested at the scene, according to the National Gendarmerie. 'I'm giving us a few months to get the European mobilization going. Otherwise... we'll start doing it in France. We can't wait,' Macron said. The student, described as well-behaved and with no prior issues, had participated in anti-bullying activities and came from a stable family. The victim had reportedly worked at the school since September and was a mother of two. Macron said social media was one of the factors to blame for violence among young people as the incident was not an isolated case. In April, a high school student in western France fatally stabbed a girl and injured three boys before being arrested. Writing on X after the interview, Macron said such regulation was backed by experts. 'Platforms have the ability to verify age. Do it,' he wrote. Earlier this year, 200 schools in France began piloting a 'digital break,' barring students under 15 from using smartphones during school hours. The Education Ministry also stepped up school security, with random bag checks leading to 186 knife seizures in two months this spring. Spain and Greece are also backing a plan to require age verification technology on all internet-connected devices. The proposal would make such verification mandatory for platforms such as Facebook and X. The European Commission and several EU states are developing pilot programs to test age checks and parental controls. However, progress is being slowed by differing regulations across EU countries and the ease with which users can access social media platforms from outside the bloc. In Russia, restrictions introduced in September ban students from using mobile phones in schools, allowing exceptions only in emergencies.
Malay Mail
04-06-2025
- General
- Malay Mail
Fahmi, Azalina to collaborate on tightening social media regulation
KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil has expressed his readiness to hold further discussions with Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, to strengthen the regulation of social media platforms in Malaysia. Fahmi said the meeting is vital following Azalina's recent proposal to amend existing laws, including requiring parents and guardians to monitor their children's online behaviour and participate in digital safety awareness and education programmes. He said that these measures will take into account the experience and approaches of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Ministry of Communications in handling various issues related to digital platforms and social media in the country. 'I will be meeting Datuk Seri Azalina to explore possible ways, based on MCMC's and the Ministry's experience dealing with social media platforms, on what we can do,' Fahmi told reporters after the Hawana 2025-Bernama Strategic Partners' Appreciation Ceremony and Official Launch of Bernama Motorhome at Wisma Bernama here yesterday. Present were Communications Ministry secretary-general Datuk Mohamad Fauzi Md Isa, as well as Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chief executive officer Datin Paduka Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin and editor-in-chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj, who is also Hawana 2025 project director. Elaborating, Fahmi said that the Online Safety Act (OnSA) 2024, which is set to be enforced soon, will grant MCMC the authority to take action against social media platforms that fail to fulfil their obligations. 'So, we will look at the best ways to assist the Law Minister in the implementation and drafting of the legislation she mentioned,' he added. — Bernama
The Verge
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
US will ban foreign officials to punish countries for social media rules
The US State Department has launched its latest rebuke against Europe and other countries over their attempts to regulate digital platforms. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the US would restrict visas for 'foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States.' He called it 'unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants on U.S. citizens or U.S. residents for social media posts on American platforms while physically present on U.S. soil' and 'for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States.' It's not yet clear how or against whom the policy will be enforced, but seems to implicate Europe's Digital Services Act, a law that came into effect in 2023 with the goal of making online platforms safer by imposing requirements on the largest platforms around removing illegal content and providing transparency about their content moderation. Though it's not mentioned directly in the press release about the visa restrictions, the Trump administration has slammed the law on multiple occasions, including in remarks earlier this year by Vice President JD Vance. It's 'unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies' The State Department's homepage currently links to an article on its official Substack, where senior advisor for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Samuel Samson critiques the DSA as a tool to 'silence dissident voices through Orwellian content moderation.' He adds that, 'Independent regulators now police social media companies, including prominent American platforms like X, and threaten immense fines for non-compliance with their strict speech regulations.' Though President Donald Trump has claimed to take actions to crack down on censorship domestically, some moves by his administration have threatened to limit speech within the US. Government websites and institutions that rely on government funding have scrubbed words associated with diversity to avoid his wrath, and The White House cut The Associated Press' access to press briefings when the outlet declined to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. 'We will not tolerate encroachments upon American sovereignty,' Rubio says in the announcement, 'especially when such encroachments undermine the exercise of our fundamental right to free speech.'
