The government does not plan to introduce a bill to regulate the media and the internet, Chief Spokesperson Heena Waleed said today after Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim announced a media regulatory bill was in the draft stage.
In an interview with Sun Media, Nazim said the bill to regulate media and internet platforms is in the final stages and that work is underway to propose a bill that is acceptable to the media when parliament sessions start next month.
But Heena wrote in a post on X that the government was not working to introduce a bill to regulate the media and the internet.
She said a media regulatory bill is not included in the government's legislative agenda and said there was no intention of introducing such a bill in the future. Government activists are sharing the post and promoting it as President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's policy.
"As we announced before, the government's policy is to allow for a self-regulatory system along with de-regulation of the media. The top policy of this government since the very first day has been to establish and maintain a free media," Heena wrote.
In his interview with Sun Media, Nazim said the existing Maldives Media Council (MMC) and Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom) incur huge expenditures to the state but both institutions do the same work.
"The media also has to be responsible. The media says it can regulate itself. But that has not happened. There is no sign of it happening. They are showing whatever they want on TV channels and writing whatever they want," Nazim said.
Nazim indicated that social media platforms like X, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok could also be regulated in the Maldives with the new bill.
"Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, these things should be regulated. Now TikTok is going to be banned in the United States for a reason," he claimed.
