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| Malaysia fine a news site for comments from readers |
A Malaysian news site was fined nearly $ 124,000 with five comments at the end of an article.
Malaysiakini News Agency has launched a fundraising campaign for a fine of RM500,000.
Since the fundraising campaign began, the news site has collected more than 505,000 MYR in four hours.
However, human rights defenders said: The news site has been selected for government corruption reports and they fear the issue will undermine political discourse on the Internet.
The New York Times reported the decision because a jury found court news media "McKinney" guilty.
The court said: These comments make clear that the judiciary has committed crimes, is suspected of corruption, is not bound by the judiciary, and exposes the judiciary to danger. These comments threaten public confidence in the judicial system and clearly aim to discredit the judiciary.
Channel News Malaysia said it took no responsibility for the comments from readers and deleted them after police warned the comments unlawfully offended the Malaysian judiciary.
But the court said he should have modified these comments first and would not allow them to appear online.
News Media Malaysiaiakini is a popular independent media company whose coverage has won international awards for the past two decades.
He has been a regular victim of domestic legal harassment, which ultimately led to the contempt of charges brought in court last year.
Co-founder Stephen Jean (Stephen Gunn) has also been imprisoned.
Jenn's situation has been compared to that of Filipino journalist Maria Risa, who has been accused of online defamation after an important report was published on her Rappler website.
But unlike Risa, who was convicted last year, Young was not guilty of personal charges.
The Times reported that this was the first case of its kind against the Malaysian media, and Amnesty International described it as a serious blow to freedom of expression in the country.
However, the online movement in Malaysia is a reflection of international pressure forcing websites to take legal responsibility for content posted by users including the United States. The aim of the legislature is to lay down the statutory bases for the overall responsibility to protect.