Comments on section 233A of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998

I was asked by The Star to comment on the amendments of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) in the article “Experts: Necessary act to address online harms effectively“, particularly, over the new section 233A. For completeness, I reproduce section 233A-

“Sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages
233A. No person shall send or cause to be sent or authorize the sending of an unsolicited commercial electronic message in contravention of any provisions of this Act or any regulations under this Act.”.

The said article, I said-

Lawyer Foong Cheng Leong said the CMA can be further improved by including a provision to cover an individual’s right to request the blocking of unlawful websites selling counterfeit products and disseminating fake news. He argued that provisions to combat unsolicited electronic messages under Section 233A are still inadequate.

“If it is to fight spam and scams, it should be drafted differently, with more details and provisions. Currently, it is a single section without much detail,” said Foong.

I was also interviewed by Astro AWANI to talk about this section.