Social Media Users Can Deny Malicious Internet Postings

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 (Bernama) -- Users of social media such as Facebook and Twitter can deny being responsible for a malicious Internet publication by providing evidence against it, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong on Tuesday. He said Section 114A of the Evidence Act (Amended) 1950 on presumption of fact, allowed the court in an Internet publication hearing to make an inference of the truth of a fact other than facts judicially acknowledged. "For instance, an unidentified person steals the password of a Facebook or Twitter account owner and publish malicious words against a respected member of the community to tarnish the latter's image. "At the time of publication, the Facebook or Twitter account owner might have misplaced his laptop, but he can use the evidence he has, to prove he was not the person who made the posting," he said. Liew was replying to Senator Khoo Soo Seang who had asked how the Evidence Act (Amended) 1950 functioned in relation to social media and whether the sharing of news through them rendered the users liable under the Act. Liew said if the password of a Facebook or Twitter account owner had been hacked, he would not be held liable for any publication of information by the hacker, which could be adduced as evidence to counter the presumption of fact. In regard to news sharing through such media, he said a Facebook or Twitter user would not be held liable for someone else's comment sent to his account, as this was not provided for under Section 114A. "If the Facebook or Twitter user publishes subversive articles and incite people to overthrow the government by violence, then he will be held liable." Liew stressed that social media users should have the moral obligation to restrict or censor news that had elements of violence or brutality from being shared or re-published. To a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar, Liew said the government had not yet obtained the statistics on the number of Facebook or Twitter users detained under the Act for publishing malicious or racially-sensitive news. -- BERNAMA