Online speech restrictions constitutional, rules apex court

2026-02-06 - 03:26

A five-member Federal Court panel, led by Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, heard the government’s appeal today. PETALING JAYA: The Federal Court has overturned the Court of Appeal decision last year that struck down as unconstitutional the words “offensive” and “annoy” in the previous iteration of Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA). The apex court ruled that the two words under Section 233 of the CMA, which criminalises the online transmission of offensive comments, are constitutional, Bernama reported. Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh led a five-member panel of judges that heard the government’s appeal. He was joined by Justices Nallini Pathmanathan, Che Ruzima Ghazali, Nazlan Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah. MORE TO COME