438
Peguam Negara Malaysia
v. MKINI Dotcom Sdn Bhd & Anor
[2021] 2 MLRA
the point of belittling the Judiciary. It had tarnished the Judiciary as being
guilty of corrupt activity and had compromised its integrity in carrying out
judicial functions. Such impugned comments, if allowed to continue, would
undermine public confidence in the Judiciary. Public interest demanded a
deterrent sentence be meted out against the 1st respondent. (paras 148-158)
Per Nallini Pathmanathan FCJ (dissenting)
(9) Although the impugned comments appeared on the Malaysiakini news
portal, it was open to the 1st respondent to adduce evidence to establish that
the comments were neither made nor posted by it. Section 114A in no manner
imputed guilt or liability on the part of the ‘publisher’. It merely altered the
normal course of proof such that it became incumbent upon the presumed
publisher to explain why he was not responsible for the content on the internet
portal or site. With the application of the section, the only conclusion that
could be drawn was that prima facie, the 1st respondent, was the ‘publisher’ of
the impugned comments but was at liberty to rebut this presumption. (paras
194-198)
(10) The respondents had sought to rebut the presumption by averring to the
fact that at the time, and until the subject impugned comments were brought
to the attention of personnel of the 1st respondent, the respondents were not
aware of the existence, nor the contents, of the impugned statements. There
was no evidence put forward to refute or challenge these statements of the
respondents. The only conclusion of fact that could be reasonably drawn on the
record of evidence was that the respondents did not know, nor were aware of
the existence or contents of the impugned comments, at the point in time when
they were posted by the third-party commenters. In this context, the suggestion
in the majority judgment that all 65 members of the editorial team should
each affirm affidavits was not tenable, as the single affidavit had rebutted the
presumption. (paras 199-201)
(11) An online content service provider like the 1st respondent became liable
as a publisher when it had knowledge or became aware of both the existence
and the content of the subject material that was unlawful or defamatory and
failed to take down said material within a reasonable time. In other words,
knowledge of, and consent to, such content was necessary before an online
intermediary became liable as a publisher for such content. Awareness of the
content was a prerequisite. (paras 253-255)
(12) Actual knowledge of the existence and content of the impugned statements
was necessary. Constructive knowledge inferred from the surrounding
circumstances did not establish intent to publish on the part of the respondents
for the purposes of liability under ‘scandalising the court’ contempt. It meant
that an online intermediary would only become a publisher from the time it
knew the impugned speech. It was only from that point in time that there arose
a duty on the part of the online intermediary to remove all unlawful content
from its site within a reasonable time. If it failed to do so, it was likely to