---
title: Laws against "fake news":Germany, France and Malaysia under one standard
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/
description: between 2017 and 2018 three governments passed laws presented as answers to harmful or false content online; they differ sharply in who decides, who is…
section: Case studies
---

![Illustration: a dossier collage of a vintage television wall broadcasting archival news footage, surrounded by press clippings and film reels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-watch-briefs.jpg)

[Case studies](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/)

# Laws against "fake news":Germany, France and Malaysia under one standard

At a glance

Between 2017 and 2018 three governments passed laws presented as answers to harmful or false content online…

- **When:** June 30, 2017
- **Actor:** National legislatures, regulators and courts (Germany, France, Malaysia)
- **Target:** Online content judged unlawful or false, and the platforms and people who post it
- **Confidence:** **documented** Primary documents, court records, official disclosures

On this page

- [What happened](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#what-happened)
- [How it worked](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#how-it-worked)
- [Measured effect](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#measured-effect)
- [Positions on the record](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#positions-on-the-record)
- [Same-method test](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#same-method-test)
- [What the record shows and doesn't](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#what-the-record-shows-and-doesn-t)
- [See also](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#see-also)
- [See also in Learn](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#see-also-in-learn)
- [Images](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#images)
- [Sources](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fake-news-laws/#sources)

On this page

**In one line:** between 2017 and 2018 three governments passed laws presented as answers to harmful or false content online; they differ sharply in who decides, who is punished and whether a judge looks first, and the documented early uses touched a far-right MP, a satire magazine, the French government's own campaign and minister, a Danish critic of the Malaysian police and Malaysia's opposition leader.

*Scope note.* This page documents three laws. Laws and measures in other countries (among them Singapore, Russia and Brazil) and the EU's own platform rules belong to the same story but are not written up here (see "What the record shows and doesn't").

## What happened

- **Early 2017 to 30 June 2017, Germany.** Justice Minister Heiko Maas proposes the Network Enforcement Act (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG) to combat online hate speech and fake news. The Bundestag passes it on 30 June 2017; it is published in the Federal Law Gazette on 7 September 2017 and takes full effect in January 2018 ([Wikipedia: Network Enforcement Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Enforcement_Act); [Wikipedia: Heiko Maas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiko_Maas)).
- **1 to 4 January 2018, Germany.** As the law takes full effect, Twitter blocks the account of AfD deputy parliamentary leader Beatrix von Storch for 12 hours, citing its rules against hate content, over a post attacking Cologne police for a New Year tweet in Arabic that referred to "barbaric, gang-raping Muslim hordes of men"; Facebook removes the same post, citing incitement to hate. Cologne police file a criminal complaint. The satire magazine *Titanic* parodies her post; Twitter blocks the magazine's account for 48 hours, and at least five of its tweets stay blocked in Germany afterwards ([CNN](https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/media/twitter-satire-free-speech-germany/index.html); [Wikipedia: Internet censorship in Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Germany); [Gulf News](https://gulfnews.com/amp/story/world%2Feurope%2Fgerman-police-accuse-afd-lawmaker-of-incitement-over-anti-muslim-tweet-1.2150712)).
- **3 January 2018, France.** In his New Year address to the press, President Emmanuel Macron says: "We are going to develop our legal means of protecting democracy against fake news." At a joint press conference with Vladimir Putin in May 2017 he had accused the Russian state outlets RT and Sputnik of "deceitful propaganda" ([France 24](https://www.france24.com/en/20180103-watch-live-macron-addresses-french-press-corps-media); [The Local](https://www.thelocal.fr/20180104/france-announces-law-to-combat-fake-news-with-russian-meddling-in-mind/)).
- **4 to 11 April 2018, Malaysia.** Parliament passes the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 on 4 April; it receives royal assent on 9 April and comes into force on 11 April. The maximum prison term, ten years in the bill, is cut to six; fines reach 500,000 ringgit ([Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2018-04-19/malaysia-anti-fake-news-act-comes-into-force/); [Allen & Gledhill](https://www.allenandgledhill.com/publication/articles/7725/highlights-of-the-malaysian-anti-fake-news-act-2018)).
- **30 April 2018, Malaysia.** First conviction. Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman, 46, a Danish citizen, pleads guilty to having "with ill intent, published fake news" in a YouTube video saying police took 50 minutes to respond to the 21 April shooting of Fadi al-Batsh, a Palestinian lecturer and Hamas member. Police say they arrived in eight minutes. Sulaiman says he posted in "a moment of anger." He is fined 10,000 ringgit and sentenced to a week in jail; Reuters reports he will spend a month in jail ([Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/man-jailed-malaysias-first-fake-news-conviction-after-criticizing-police-906052); [NPR](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/30/607068241/danish-man-is-first-person-convicted-under-malaysias-anti-fake-news-law); [Techmeme summary of Reuters](https://www.latestnigeriannews.com/news/5801878/danish-citizen-salah-salem-saleh-sulaiman-first-to-be-convicted-under-malaysias-.html)).
- **Early May 2018, Malaysia.** Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim says a "fake news" case has been opened against opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad, a former prime minister, over his statement that his chartered plane was sabotaged to stop him filing his candidacy in Langkawi. The Civil Aviation Authority says it found "no indication whatsoever of any sabotage" ([CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/03/asia/malaysia-election-mahathir-fake-news-intl/index.html); [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-03/mahathir-probed-under-malaysia-fake-news-law-for-sabotage-claim); [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/malaysian-officials-investigate-opposition-leader-claims-180502172931129.html)).
- **26 July 2018, France.** The Senate rejects the two government-backed bills ([Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2018-09-24/france-senate-rejects-fake-news-ban-bills/)).
- **16 August 2018 to 19 December 2019, Malaysia.** After Mahathir's coalition takes power, the lower house (Dewan Rakyat) passes a repeal bill on 16 August 2018; the Senate (Dewan Negara) rejects it on 12 September 2018. The lower house passes repeal again on 9 October 2019, and the Senate approves it on 19 December 2019 ([Rahmat Lim & Partners](https://www.rahmatlim.com/publication/articles/8572/dewan-negara-rejects-bill-to-repeal-anti-fake-news-act-2018); [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2019-10-24/malaysia-bill-to-repeal-anti-fake-news-act-passed/); [Borneo Post](https://www.theborneopost.com/2019/12/20/dewan-negara-passes-repeal-of-anti-fake-news-act/)).
- **20 November to 22 December 2018, France.** Having been rejected twice by the Senate, the ordinary and organic bills on the manipulation of information are adopted on final reading by the National Assembly on 20 November. Senators, among them Bruno Retailleau, refer the ordinary law to the Constitutional Council on 21 November. On 20 December the Council upholds both laws with interpretive reservations (Decisions 2018-773 DC and 2018-774 DC), and the law is dated 22 December 2018 ([IRIS Merlin](https://merlin.obs.coe.int/article/8446); [Conseil constitutionnel](https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/en/decision/2018/2018773DC.htm); [Légifrance](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000037847711/)).
- **2 April 2019, France.** Twitter declines to run the government's sponsored #OuiJeVote voter-registration tweets for the European elections, because it has opted out of the political advertising covered by the law's disclosure rules. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner writes: "Twitter's priority should be to fight content that glorifies terrorism. Not campaigns to register the electorate of a democratic republic." Twitter France later lifts the block ([Gizmodo](https://gizmodo.com/twitter-uses-frances-own-fake-news-law-to-block-french-1833781703); [Euronews](https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/03/twitter-blocks-french-government-ad-campaign-using-france-s-own-fake-news-law); [The National](https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/twitter-backs-down-after-banning-french-government-messages-1.845235)).
- **10 to 17 May 2019, France.** In the first use of the new emergency procedure, two Communist politicians, MEP Marie-Pierre Vieu and Senator Pierre Ouzoulias, ask the Paris court to order removal of Castaner's 1 May tweet saying protesters had "attacked" the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. On 17 May the court refuses: the wording was exaggerated but concerned real events (protesters' intrusion into the hospital), so it was not manifestly inaccurate or misleading ([Legalis](https://www.legalis.net/actualite/le-tweet-du-ministre-de-linterieur-nest-pas-une-fake-news-au-sens-de-la-loi/); [Dalloz Actualité](https://www.dalloz-actualite.fr/flash/loi-fake-news-premiere-application-du-refere); [TAoMA Partners](https://taoma-partners.fr/blog/2019/05/31/pas-de-qualification-de-fake-news-pour-le-tweet-de-christophe-castaner/)).
- **3 July 2019, Germany.** The Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) fines Facebook Ireland €2 million, the first NetzDG fine, because its transparency report for the first half of 2018 counted only complaints made through a hard-to-find NetzDG form ([IRIS Merlin](https://merlin.obs.coe.int/article/8646); [Clifford Chance](https://www.cliffordchance.com/insights/resources/blogs/talking-tech/en/articles/2019/07/facebook-issued-with-2-million-euro-fine.html)).

![The Reichstag building in Berlin, seat of the Bundestag, at night, April 2016](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/fake-news-laws-reichstag-2016.jpg)

*The Reichstag building, Berlin, seat of the Bundestag, which passed the Network Enforcement Act on 30 June 2017. Photo: Diego Delso, 21 April 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.*

## How it worked

|  | Germany: NetzDG (2017) | France: law of 22 December 2018 | Malaysia: Anti-Fake News Act 2018 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Who decides first | The platform, on a user complaint | A judge, on application | Police and prosecutors, then a court |
| Deadline | 24 hours for "clearly illegal" content, 7 days for other illegal content | Judge rules within 48 hours, in the 3 months before a national election | Ordinary criminal procedure |
| Who is penalised | Platforms with over 2 million users, fines up to €50 million | The remedy is a court order to stop dissemination | The individual: up to 6 years and 500,000 ringgit |
| Other powers | Transparency reports on complaints | The broadcast regulator (CSA) may suspend a licensed service controlled or influenced by a foreign state that deliberately spreads false information likely to affect the vote, in the 3 months before an election; platforms must disclose who paid for sponsored content and how much | None documented here |

Sources for the table: [Wikipedia: Network Enforcement Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Enforcement_Act), [Library of Congress (France)](https://maint.loc.gov/law/help/fake-news/france.php), [Techdirt](https://www.techdirt.com/2018/06/13/french-president-pushing-fake-news-bill-that-would-demand-decisions-judges-48-hours/), [Conseil constitutionnel](https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/en/decision/2018/2018773DC.htm), [Library of Congress (Malaysia)](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2018-04-19/malaysia-anti-fake-news-act-comes-into-force/). The Malaysian Act's statutory definition of "fake news" is not quoted because its wording was not verified for this page.

Two points about the categories matter:

- **NetzDG works through platforms, not through courts.** The first decision on a complaint is the company's, under a deadline, and the fines fall on the company. The early blocks of von Storch and *Titanic* were made under Twitter's own rules in the week the law took full effect.
- **France's Council narrowed its law.** Decision 2018-773 DC says the procedure covers only allegations whose falsity can be objectively demonstrated, not opinions, parodies, partial inaccuracies or simple exaggerations, and only where the inaccuracy, or the risk to the election, is manifest.

## Measured effect

- **No causal study was found** that measures whether any of the three laws reduced false or unlawful content, or changed what people believed.
- **Germany, removals and over-blocking.** The evidence is disputed. The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) presented a report on NetzDG as showing "no threat of over-blocking" ([CEP](https://www.counterextremism.com/press/icymi-new-report-germany%E2%80%99s-netzdg-online-hate-speech-law-shows-no-threat-over-blocking)). The BfJ's 2019 fine turned on the fact that Facebook's published complaint numbers were incomplete, which limits what any reading of the first reports can show.
- **France.** The one reported test of the emergency procedure failed, because the court found the target exaggerated rather than manifestly false. The regulator has published a first assessment of the law ([EPRA](https://www.epra.org/news_items/french-law-against-information-disorder-the-first-assessment)); no evaluation of the law's effect on election outcomes was found for this page.
- **Malaysia.** The Act was in force for about twenty months. This page documents one conviction (a guilty plea, so the falsity question was never tried) and one investigation of the main opposition leader during an election campaign. A full count of charges under the Act was not verified.

![Entrance of the Conseil constitutionnel, Palais-Royal, Paris](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/fake-news-laws-conseil-constitutionnel.jpg)

*Entrance of the Conseil constitutionnel in the Palais-Royal, Paris, 25 May 2012. On 20 December 2018 the Council upheld both French laws with reservations. Photo: Jebulon, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.*

![Interior of the Dewan Rakyat chamber, Parliament of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, May 2023](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/fake-news-laws-malaysian-parliament-2023.jpg)

*The Dewan Rakyat chamber, Parliament of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 7 May 2023. The lower house passed the Anti-Fake News Act on 4 April 2018 and its repeal on 16 August 2018 and 9 October 2019. Photo: Wee Hong, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.*

## Positions on the record

**Germany** - *Government:* Maas proposed the law to combat online hate speech and fake news ([Wikipedia: Heiko Maas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiko_Maas)). - *Journalists and satirists:* *Titanic* editor Tim Wolff said he was "shocked" by the block, and the German Federation of Journalists described Twitter's move as an attack on press freedom ([CNN](https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/media/twitter-satire-free-speech-germany/index.html)). The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that critics warned the new powers went too far ([CPJ](https://cpj.org/blog/2018/01/as-german-hate-speech-law-sinks-titanics-twitter-p.php)). Euronews reported in February 2018 that the law was under fire for turning social media companies into "overzealous censors" ([Euronews](https://www.euronews.com/2018/02/14/german-law-under-fire-for-turning-social-media-companies-into-overzealous-censors-)). The World Socialist Web Site called the *Titanic* block censorship ([WSWS](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/01/10/twit-j10.html)). - *From the other direction:* CEP argued the law was not causing over-blocking, and a Euronews article in November 2018 argued that the law "needs teeth" ([Euronews](https://www.euronews.com/2018/11/23/germany-s-new-anti-hate-speech-law-needs-teeth-if-it-has-any-hope-of-stamping-it-out-onlin)). - *Companies:* Facebook said of its fine that "this law lacks clarity" ([IRIS Merlin](https://merlin.obs.coe.int/article/8646)).

**France** - *Government:* Macron framed the law as protecting democracy and named Russian state outlets as a concern. - *Parliament:* the Senate's rapporteur Christophe-André Frassa cited doubts "on the effectiveness of the proposed provisions" and "risks of disproportionate constraints on freedom of speech" ([Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2018-09-24/france-senate-rejects-fake-news-ban-bills/)). After the Castaner ruling, Ouzoulias called it « la preuve par l'absurde » (proof by the absurd) that the law is « inutile » (useless) ([Public Sénat](https://www.publicsenat.fr/article/parlementaire/castaner-et-la-pitie-salpetriere-la-preuve-par-l-absurde-que-la-loi-sur-les)). - *Commentators across the spectrum:* the free-market Acton Institute headlined the plan "Macron's Orwellian fake news fix" ([Acton](https://www.acton.org/pub/commentary/2018/01/17/fake-news-law-proposals-france)); the Trotskyist World Socialist Web Site said it gave the state "unchecked Internet censorship powers" ([WSWS](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/06/08/fran-j08.html)); AFP reported that the opposition and the media "cry foul" ([Borneo Post via PressReader](https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-borneo-post/20180609/282720522660837)). - *Russia's side:* RT, one of the outlets Macron named, reported opposition critics calling the bill "ridiculous & absurd political censorship" ([RT](https://www.rt.com/news/429071-macron-fake-news-law/)).

**Malaysia** - *Government:* the Najib government's stated case for the Act was not verified for this page. After the election, CBS News reported: "Malaysia's fake-news law is here to stay, new PM says"; his coalition then moved to repeal it ([CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-fake-news-law-in-effect-prime-minister-mahathir-mohamad/)). - *Rights groups:* ARTICLE 19 said the Act should be repealed in its entirety and called the Senate's 2018 rejection of repeal "a backwards step"; CIVICUS called it a step backwards for the Pakatan Harapan government. The Human Rights Foundation wrote that Malaysia used the law to target political opponents ([ARTICLE 19](https://www.article19.org/resources/malaysia-anti-fake-news-act-repealed-entirety/); [ARTICLE 19, 2018](https://www.article19.org/resources/malaysia-senates-rejection-of-bill-abolishing-anti-fake-news-law-a-backwards-step/); [CIVICUS](https://civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/news/3472-malaysia-senate-s-rejection-of-bill-abolishing-fake-news-law-a-step-backwards-for-the-pakatan-harapan-government); [HRF](https://hrf.org/latest/malaysia-uses-anti-fake-news-law-to-target-political-opponents/)).

## Same-method test

Scored the same way, the three laws sort by mechanism, not by the country's reputation. **Penalties:** Malaysia jailed and fined the speaker; Germany fined platforms, not users; France offered a stop order, not a sentence. **Judicial review:** France required a judge before anything came down, and its Constitutional Council limited the power further; Germany left the first call to company moderators under deadline; Malaysia used ordinary courts, but its first case ended in a guilty plea. **What counts as false:** Germany's law applies to content that is already illegal rather than setting its own test of truth; France reached only objectively provable, manifest falsehoods of fact in an election window; Malaysia's Act targeted "fake news" as a category. **Who it touched first:** in Germany, a far-right MP and a satire magazine; in France, the government's own campaign and its own interior minister; in Malaysia, a foreign critic of the police and the opposition leader during an election. A democracy can pass a broad speech-removal law, and a narrowly drawn law can still be aimed at opponents; each is judged here on its text and its documented uses.

## What the record shows and doesn't

- **Documented:** the dates above; the Constitutional Council's reservations; the €2 million Facebook fine; the Malaysian conviction and the Mahathir investigation; the French court's refusal in the Castaner case; the repeal in Malaysia.
- **Disputed:** whether NetzDG caused over-blocking. Supporters and critics read the same transparency reports, and the regulator found Facebook's report incomplete.
- **Frames, not findings:** "overzealous censors" and "needs teeth" are arguments about the same statute from opposite directions.
- **Not covered here:** what happened to NetzDG after 2019, including its relationship to later EU platform rules; Singapore's law on online falsehoods; Russia's fake news laws from 2019 onward; Brazil's electoral-court measures. Their details were not verified for this version of the page.

## See also

- [Government fact-check units: Russia, China, India and Ukraine](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/government-fact-check-units/)
- [Platform interventions: labels, nudges, notes, friction and takedowns](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/platform-interventions/)
- [The debate over counter-disinformation](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/debates/)
- [Fact-checking and corrections](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/fact-checking/)
- [The DHS Disinformation Governance Board (2022)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/dhs-disinformation-governance-board/)
- [The UK's Counter Disinformation Unit and its sister units (2019 to 2024)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/uk-counter-disinformation-unit/)
- [EUvsDisinfo and the EEAS East StratCom Task Force](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/euvsdisinfo-east-stratcom/)
- [Countering propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/countering/)

## See also in Learn

- [Continued influence effect](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/continued-influence-effect/)
- [Illusory truth effect](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/illusory-truth-effect/)

## Images

| Image | Source | Licence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Entrance of the Conseil constitutionnel, Paris, 2012 | [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conseil_Constitutionnel_Paris.jpg), photo by Jebulon | CC0 |
| Reichstag building, Berlin, 2016 | [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reichstag,_Berl%C3%ADn,_Alemania,_2016-04-21,_DD_46-48_HDR.jpg), Diego Delso | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Dewan Rakyat chamber, Kuala Lumpur, 2023 | [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dewan_Rakyat,_Parliament_of_Malaysia_(symmetrical_composition).jpg), Wee Hong | CC BY-SA 4.0 |

### Image gaps

- **Heiko Maas, 2015.** A download was attempted but the file returned was an error page, and the Commons API was rate-limiting; not hosted.
- **The first Malaysian conviction and the police or prosecutors involved.** No openly licensed photo found; the Dewan Rakyat chamber is hosted above.
- **Screenshots of the blocked posts.** Copyrighted; not hosted.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia, Network Enforcement Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Enforcement_Act)
- [Wikipedia, Heiko Maas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiko_Maas)
- [Wikipedia, Internet censorship in Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Germany)
- [CNN, Twitter blocks German satirical magazine Titanic (4 January 2018)](https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/media/twitter-satire-free-speech-germany/index.html)
- [Gulf News, German police accuse AfD lawmaker of incitement over anti-Muslim tweet](https://gulfnews.com/amp/story/world%2Feurope%2Fgerman-police-accuse-afd-lawmaker-of-incitement-over-anti-muslim-tweet-1.2150712)
- [CPJ, As German hate speech law sinks Titanic's Twitter post, critics warn new powers go too far (January 2018)](https://cpj.org/blog/2018/01/as-german-hate-speech-law-sinks-titanics-twitter-p.php)
- [WSWS, Twitter censors German satirical magazine (10 January 2018)](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/01/10/twit-j10.html)
- [Euronews, German law under fire for turning social media companies into "overzealous censors" (14 February 2018)](https://www.euronews.com/2018/02/14/german-law-under-fire-for-turning-social-media-companies-into-overzealous-censors-)
- [Euronews, Germany's new anti-hate speech law needs teeth (23 November 2018)](https://www.euronews.com/2018/11/23/germany-s-new-anti-hate-speech-law-needs-teeth-if-it-has-any-hope-of-stamping-it-out-onlin)
- [Counter Extremism Project, New Report on Germany's NetzDG Online Hate Speech Law Shows No Threat of Over-Blocking](https://www.counterextremism.com/press/icymi-new-report-germany%E2%80%99s-netzdg-online-hate-speech-law-shows-no-threat-over-blocking)
- [IRIS Merlin (Council of Europe), Federal Office for Justice fines Facebook](https://merlin.obs.coe.int/article/8646)
- [Clifford Chance, Facebook issued with 2 million Euro fine (July 2019)](https://www.cliffordchance.com/insights/resources/blogs/talking-tech/en/articles/2019/07/facebook-issued-with-2-million-euro-fine.html)
- [France 24, Macron wants new law to fight "fake news" (3 January 2018)](https://www.france24.com/en/20180103-watch-live-macron-addresses-french-press-corps-media)
- [The Local, Macron vows new law to combat fake news with Russian meddling in mind (4 January 2018)](https://www.thelocal.fr/20180104/france-announces-law-to-combat-fake-news-with-russian-meddling-in-mind/)
- [Techdirt, French President Pushing "Fake News" Bill That Would Demand Decisions From Judges In 48 Hours (June 2018)](https://www.techdirt.com/2018/06/13/french-president-pushing-fake-news-bill-that-would-demand-decisions-judges-48-hours/)
- [Library of Congress, Initiatives to Counter Fake News: France](https://maint.loc.gov/law/help/fake-news/france.php)
- [Library of Congress, France: Senate Rejects "Fake News Ban" Bills (September 2018)](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2018-09-24/france-senate-rejects-fake-news-ban-bills/)
- [IRIS Merlin, Laws to combat manipulation of information finally adopted](https://merlin.obs.coe.int/article/8446)
- [Conseil constitutionnel, Decision 2018-773 DC, 20 December 2018](https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/en/decision/2018/2018773DC.htm)
- [Légifrance, Décision n° 2018-773 DC du 20 décembre 2018](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000037847711/)
- [EPRA, French Law against information disorder: first assessment by the regulator](https://www.epra.org/news_items/french-law-against-information-disorder-the-first-assessment)
- [Gizmodo, Twitter Uses France's Own Fake News Law to Block French Voter Registration Campaign](https://gizmodo.com/twitter-uses-frances-own-fake-news-law-to-block-french-1833781703)
- [Euronews, Twitter blocks French government ad campaign using France's own fake news law (3 April 2019)](https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/03/twitter-blocks-french-government-ad-campaign-using-france-s-own-fake-news-law)
- [The National, Twitter backs down after banning French government messages](https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/twitter-backs-down-after-banning-french-government-messages-1.845235)
- [Legalis, Le tweet du ministre de l'Intérieur n'est pas une fake news, au sens de la loi](https://www.legalis.net/actualite/le-tweet-du-ministre-de-linterieur-nest-pas-une-fake-news-au-sens-de-la-loi/)
- [Dalloz Actualité, Loi Fake news : première application du référé](https://www.dalloz-actualite.fr/flash/loi-fake-news-premiere-application-du-refere)
- [TAoMA Partners, Pas de qualification de « fake news » pour le tweet de Christophe Castaner](https://taoma-partners.fr/blog/2019/05/31/pas-de-qualification-de-fake-news-pour-le-tweet-de-christophe-castaner/)
- [Public Sénat, Castaner et la Pitié Salpêtrière : « La preuve par l'absurde »](https://www.publicsenat.fr/article/parlementaire/castaner-et-la-pitie-salpetriere-la-preuve-par-l-absurde-que-la-loi-sur-les)
- [Acton Institute, Macron's Orwellian fake news fix (17 January 2018)](https://www.acton.org/pub/commentary/2018/01/17/fake-news-law-proposals-france)
- [WSWS, Anti-"fake news" bill gives French state unchecked Internet censorship powers (8 June 2018)](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/06/08/fran-j08.html)
- [Borneo Post (AFP) via PressReader, French opposition, media cry foul over "fake news" bill (9 June 2018)](https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-borneo-post/20180609/282720522660837)
- [RT, "Ridiculous & absurd political censorship": Opposition critics slam Macron's anti-fake news law](https://www.rt.com/news/429071-macron-fake-news-law/)
- [Library of Congress, Malaysia: Anti-Fake News Act Comes into Force (April 2018)](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2018-04-19/malaysia-anti-fake-news-act-comes-into-force/)
- [Allen & Gledhill, Highlights of the Malaysian Anti-Fake News Act 2018](https://www.allenandgledhill.com/publication/articles/7725/highlights-of-the-malaysian-anti-fake-news-act-2018)
- [Newsweek, Man Jailed in Malaysia's First "Fake News" Conviction](https://www.newsweek.com/man-jailed-malaysias-first-fake-news-conviction-after-criticizing-police-906052)
- [NPR, Danish Man Is First Person Sentenced Under Malaysia's Anti-Fake-News Law (30 April 2018)](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/30/607068241/danish-man-is-first-person-convicted-under-malaysias-anti-fake-news-law)
- [Techmeme summary of Reuters, Sulaiman to spend a month in jail](https://www.latestnigeriannews.com/news/5801878/danish-citizen-salah-salem-saleh-sulaiman-first-to-be-convicted-under-malaysias-.html)
- [CNN, Malaysia election: Opposition leader Mahathir facing fake news charge (3 May 2018)](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/03/asia/malaysia-election-mahathir-fake-news-intl/index.html)
- [Bloomberg, Mahathir Probed Under Malaysia Fake News Law for Sabotage Claim (3 May 2018)](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-03/mahathir-probed-under-malaysia-fake-news-law-for-sabotage-claim)
- [Al Jazeera, Malaysian officials to investigate opposition leader over claims (May 2018)](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/malaysian-officials-investigate-opposition-leader-claims-180502172931129.html)
- [CBS News, Malaysia's fake-news law is here to stay, new PM says](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-fake-news-law-in-effect-prime-minister-mahathir-mohamad/)
- [Rahmat Lim & Partners, Dewan Negara rejects Bill to repeal Anti-Fake News Act 2018](https://www.rahmatlim.com/publication/articles/8572/dewan-negara-rejects-bill-to-repeal-anti-fake-news-act-2018)
- [Library of Congress, Malaysia: Bill to Repeal Anti-Fake News Act Passed (October 2019)](https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2019-10-24/malaysia-bill-to-repeal-anti-fake-news-act-passed/)
- [Borneo Post, Dewan Negara passes repeal of Anti-Fake News Act (20 December 2019)](https://www.theborneopost.com/2019/12/20/dewan-negara-passes-repeal-of-anti-fake-news-act/)
- [ARTICLE 19, Malaysia: Anti-Fake News Act should be repealed in its entirety](https://www.article19.org/resources/malaysia-anti-fake-news-act-repealed-entirety/)
- [ARTICLE 19, Malaysia: Senate's rejection of bill abolishing Anti-Fake News Law a backwards step](https://www.article19.org/resources/malaysia-senates-rejection-of-bill-abolishing-anti-fake-news-law-a-backwards-step/)
- [CIVICUS, Senate's rejection of bill abolishing fake news law a step backwards for the Pakatan Harapan government](https://civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/news/3472-malaysia-senate-s-rejection-of-bill-abolishing-fake-news-law-a-step-backwards-for-the-pakatan-harapan-government)
- [Human Rights Foundation, Malaysia Uses Anti-Fake News Law to Target Political Opponents](https://hrf.org/latest/malaysia-uses-anti-fake-news-law-to-target-political-opponents/)