Is freedom of speech a talisman against cyberbullying?

 In this contemporary era, social media allows everyone to make their views known like never before. This liberty, however, has its complications and caution must be taken. In an exclusive interview with Oriental Daily, the Assistant Minister of Communications of Malaysia, Chong Nien-kwan, shared that cyberbullying is something that has come to be in recent years. Although governments have tried addressing it using laws and policies, it still is a challenging issue.

She discussed how it is complex to define the term cyber bullying. For instance, one side of a dispute may go to the extent of using the Internet to try and execute the other party (internet trial by ordeal). Legally, there are issuers with putting at liberty someone's private details. Hence, the answering of how boundaries are drawn is a sophisticated matter.

Moreover, Chong Nien-Kwan shared that cyber bullying is usually done as a group and not an individual. The act itself gets done collectively but figuring out who becomes the ‘last straw to break the camel’s back’ is often impossible. She noted that in this case, every snowflake is a flake of snow and every snowflake is not innocent.

To combat cyberbullying, Malaysia has added cyberstalking and online harassment to the Penal Code. Nonetheless, Chong has also said that compared to other forms of cybercrimes, defining the parameters of cyber violence is more difficult.

Chong noted that the UK has passed the Cybersecurity Act which gives greater control to British authorities over social media platforms. Malaysia is considering either amending existing legislation or drafting new proposals regarding cyber violence, but no conclusions have been reached.

We tend to forget that the freedom of speech comes with social responsibility. While in the age of the internet, the power of speech is amplified tremendously. Finding the proper balance between one’s self expression and the expression of infringement on another person’s rights is something that needs to be addressed by every internet user.

writtend by LIM CIN SHAN