Geopolitics Quarterly

Geopolitics Quarterly

Personal Media Restrictions on Freedom of Speech: A Social Contract Theory Behind It

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Nabeel Mahdi Althabhawi 1
Chao Wei Zhe 1
Nadia Sofea Binti Zainal Abidin 2
Mustafa Habeeb Obaid Al Imari 3
1 Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Malaysia
2 Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
3 Al-Mustaqbal University College, Iraq
Abstract
In the burst of sophisticated platforms, it reached its peak where people worship and preach their rights of freedom of speech.  We witnessed a subsequent arose issue where people questioned the imposed restrictions on them in the realm of social media platforms by the authority. Nonetheless, the merely conferred freedom of speech will bring public disharmony. It was because people are exposed to and choose to be permeated by personal media applications. Thus, via the platforms, people are inclined to voice, issue and navigate their statements based on feelings, thoughts, and opinions without contemplating the effects and rationale of it. Normally, the statement is controversial while dripping at the edge of the sensitive topic while creating social disharmony and triggering social bonding. Thus, principle of Social Contract was brought in order to justify the restrictions imposed by the authority. At the same time, people used Social Contract as a defense to uphold their rights. Nevertheless, it may lead to numerous problems with the absence of restrictions. Besides, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and etc. were the examples of personal media platforms the writer referred to. Thus, the thrust of the paper is to examine to what extent the government may impose restrictions on their citizens via personal media platforms in relation to Social Contracts and the right of freedom of speech. Thus, the writers will conduct the paper through a qualitative approach which is a pure literature review. The gist of limitation is where the personal media platform would be focused, and restrictions referred to which were imposed by the governmental authorities instead of the personal media administrator. The The paper suggests that, notwithstanding the conventional Social Contract theory, the writers argued that the restrictions shall be imposed on personal media users.
Keywords
Personal Media Restriction
Freedom of Speech
Social Contract Theory
Democracy

Subjects

  1. Afzali, R.; Mahmoodi, A; Bagheri, A. (2023). Explain the ethnic policies of the Islāmic Republic of Iran in popular films using content analysis methods. Geopolitics Quarterly, 19(69), 33-68.
  2. Althabhawi, N. M.; Zainol, Z. A. (2013). Patentable novelty in nanotechnology inventions: a legal study in Iraq and Malaysia. NanoEthics, 7, 121-133.
  3. Althabhawi, N. M.; Zainol, Z. A.; Bagherib, P (2022). Society 5.0: A new challenge to legal norms. Sriwijaya Law Review, 6(1), 41-54.
  4. Ashcraft, R. (1994). Locke's political philosophy. na.
  5. Assembly, U. G. (1986). Declaration on the Right to Development, 4 December 1986. A/Res/41/128.
  6. Azizuddin Mohd Sani, M. (2008). Freedom of speech and democracy in Malaysia. Asian Journal of Political Science, 16(1), 85-104.
  7. Bagheri, P.; Mahdi Althabhawi, N.; Moslemzadeh, P. (2021). Legal Issues Tsunami in the Wake of COVID-19 and Contractual Breach. Geopolitics Quarterly, 17, 123-135.
  8. Balkin, J. M. (2017). Digital speech and democratic culture: A theory of freedom of expression for the information society. In Law and Society Approaches to Cyberspace (pp. 325-382). Routledge.
  9. Bansal, A.; Rani, A. (2021). The FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION VS SOCIAL MEDIA VIOLATIONS. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCOMAT), 12(1), 862-872.
  10. Barak-Erez, Daphne Scharia; David. (2011). Freedom of Speech, support for te- rrorism, and the challenge of global constitutional law. Harv. Nat'l Sec. J., 2, 1.
  11. Brettschneider, C. (2006). The value theory of democracy. Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 5(3), 259-278.
  12. Bt Mohamed, S. (2017). Breaking the Malaysian political media dichotomy: A case for citizen’s media.
  13. Chapter VI. The Social Compact.
  14. Cohen, J. (2009). Reflections on deliberative democracy. Contemporary debates in political philosophy, 17, 247.
  15. Communication and Multimedia Act. (1998).
  16. Constitution, F. (2006). Laws of Malaysia. Reprint Federal Constitution Incorporating All Amendments Up To, 1.
  17. Curzon, L. B. (1995). Jurisprudence (Edisi Kedua ed.). Cavendish Publishing Limited.
  18. Dahlberg, L. (2001). The Internet and democratic discourse: Exploring the prospects of online deliberative forums extending the public sphere. Information, communication & society, 4(4), 615-633.
  19. Datuk Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim v Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd & Anor, [2013] 3 MLJ 534
  20. Daud, M. B. (2010). THE EXTENT TO WHICH NATION STATES HAVE ATTEMPTED TO GOVERN AND ARE CONTINUALLY ATTEMPTING TO GOVERN THE INTERNET UNTIL TODAY WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, MALAYSIA AND IRAQ.
  21. Daud, M.; Zulhuda, S. (2020). REGULATING THE SPREAD OF FALSE CONTENT ONLINE IN MALAYSIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD. International Journal of Business & Society, 21.
  22. Defamation Act. (1957).
  23. DWORKIN, R. M. (1996). Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution Harvard University Press
  24. Efroni, Z. (2011). Access. ACCESS-RIGHT: THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL COPYRIGHT LAW, 125.
  25. Elahi, M. (2005). What is social contract theory? Sophia Project, 1.
  26. Ersoy, M. (2019). Social media and children. In Handbook of Research on Children's Consumption of Digital Media (pp. 11-23). IGI Global.
  27. Evers, W. M. (1977). Social contract: A critique. Journal of Libertarian Studies, 1(3), 185-194.
  28. Evidence Act (1950).
  29. Fried, B. H. (2003). “If you don't like it, leave it”: The problem of exit in social contractarian arguments. Philosophy & public affairs, 31(1), 40-70.
  30. Gunkel, D. J. (2014). Social contract 2.0: terms of service agreements and political theory. Journal of Media Critiques, 1(2), 145-168.
  31. Hassan, M. S.; Hed, N. M.; Kamilan, I. H. (2022). Parliamentary reforms and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): the way forward for an inclusive and sustainable parliament. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 28(4), 578-605.
  32. Hegel, G. W. F. (1820). Elements of the Philosophy of Right.
  33. Henderson, J. J. (2013). The boundaries of free speech in social media. In social media and the Law (pp. 15-36). Routledge.
  34. Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan.
  35. Judd Owen, J. (2005). The tolerant Leviathan: Hobbes and the paradox of liberalism. Polity, 37(1), 130-148.
  36. Kaplan, A. M.; Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
  37. Khalid, R. M.; Kadhim, S. A.; Dahalan, W. S. A. W. (2020). Revisiting the human right to water in contemporary international law. UUM Journal of Legal Studies, 11(1), 37-49.
  38. Lee May Ling V Public Prosecutor [2019] 8 MLJ 396.
  39. Locke, J. (1690). Two Treatises of Government.
  40. Locke, J. (1960). Chapter VIII. Of the Beginning of Political Societies. Second Treatise of Civil Government (p. Sec. 119).
  41. Marks, J. (2005). Misreading One's Sources: Charles Taylor's Rousseau. American Journal of Political Science, 49(1), 119-134.
  42. Mia, M. T.; Islam, M. Z.; Norullah, M. (2021). FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION IN MALAYSIA: PROTECTION UNDER THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. SARJANA, 48-62.
  43. Mohd Fahmi Reza Bin Mohd Zarin V Pendakwa Raya (2020). 7 MLJ 399
  44. Mohd Sani, M. A. (2008). Media freedom and legislation in Malaysia. REKAYASA–Journal of ethics, legal and governance, 4, 69-86.
  45. Morrison, W. (2016). Jurisprudence: From the Greeks to Post-Modernity. Routledge-Cavendish.
  46. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).
  47. Nor, M. W. M; Asraf, R. M. (2015). Freedom without Restraint and Res- ponsibility: The Problem of Hate Speech in Malaysia. Malayan Law Journal, 5.
  48. Odun, O.; Utulu, A. U. (2016). Is the new media superior to the traditional media for advertising. Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, 4(1), 57-69.
  49. Peguam Negara Malaysia v Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd and Another (2020). 4 MLJ 791
  50. Reddy, S.; Sonker, D.; Singh, P.; Saxena, K.; Singh, S.; Chhajed, R.; Tiwari, S.; Karthik, K.; Ghosh, S.; Ray, K. (2018). A brain-like computer made of time crystal: could a metric of prime alone replace a user and alleviate programming forever? In Soft Computing Applications (pp. 1-43). Springer.
  51. Rousseau, J. J. (1913). The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right. (Vol. Book I.
  52. Sahamid, B. (2005). Jurisprudens dan teori undang-undang dalam konteks Malaysia. Sweet & Maxwell Asia.
  53. Sangsuvan, K. (2013). Balancing freedom of speech on the internet under international law. NCJ Int'l L. & Com. Reg., 39, 701.
  54. Sedition Act. (1948).
  55. Shah, H. S. A. (2004). Evolving a Malaysian Nation: Constitutional Monarchy, Rule of Law. and Good Governance. 331-332.
  56. Van Der Zande, J. (1995). In the image of Cicero: German philosophy between Wolff and Kant. Journal of the History of Ideas, 56(3), 419-442.
  57. Wester, J. B. (2021). John Locke’s Social Contract Theory: A Baptist Assessment and Critique of Locke’s Formulation for the Basis of Legitimate Political Authority Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary].
  58. Wok, S.; Mohamed, S. (2017). Internet and social media in Malaysia: Development, challenges and potentials. In The evolution of media communication. IntechOpen.

Zenzinger, T. (1992). Hobbes and the social contract tradition. jean hampton. new york: Cambridge university press, 1986. reviewed by theodore s. zenzinger. university of kansas. auslegung: a journal of philosophy, 18(2), 167-178

Geopolitics Quarterly
Volume 19, Special Issue
Summer 2023
Pages 119-144

  • Receive Date 20 April 2023
  • Accept Date 17 June 2023