GEORGE TOWN — The High Court here has dismissed a lawyer’s bid to initiate judicial review proceedings against the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) over a restriction placed on his Facebook post in 2024.

The ruling was made by Judge Datuk Anand Ponnudurai.

According to counsel A. Srimurugan who represented the lawyer, Dr Shamsher Singh Thind, the court has ruled that the decision to remove the post by Shamsher Singh was made by Facebook and not MCMC, hence it could not be subjected to a judicial review.

He also said the judge held that MCMC’s action was not a ‘decision’ which the court could review as it only issued a request for action while the decision was made by Facebook.  

“The judge said social media platforms have the final say in content moderation, even when prompted by regulators such as MCMC,” said the lawyer when contacted. 

On June 4, Shamsher Singh filed a leave application for a judicial review to quash an administrative request that resulted in his Facebook post being blocked for Malaysian users, in May 2024.

In his application, he claimed that MCMC had violated his freedom of speech by blocking the post. 

He also wanted the court to declare the regulator’s actions illegal and wanted MCMC to drop its “directive” to Facebook calling for the post to be blocked. — BERNAMA