ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship #PeoplePower | How Are People Resisting #DigitalDictatorship? Courage Under Fire: Nik Elin’s Battle Against Syariah Laws & Misinformation The case of Lawyer Nik Elin Zurina is a prime example of people power. In 2022, together with her daughter Tengku Yasmin, they constitutionally challenged the 2019 enactment of some Islamic Syariah Criminal law provisions by the Kelantan State Legislature, eliciting strong reactions from conservative rightwing groups. Despite the Federal Court establishing the constitutionality of her case, these groups claim that contesting such Syariah provisions threatens the position of Islam and the Syariah courts in Malaysia. Nik Elin, in response, has become a target of extensive misinformation, online gender-based violence, including threats to her life.85 On 9 February 2024, two years after the start of the legal process, Nik Elin and Yasmin won the case with a majority 8-1 ruling that the Kelantan state government did not have the power to enact Syariah Criminal Code provisions that are already covered by the jurisdiction of the federal parliament.86 This monumental ruling does not only impact other conservative state legislations, but it also paves the way towards a more progressive and democratic Malaysia. Similarly, the Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) In 2020, Meta received 398 restriction requests, and reported rising trends of hostility against migrant 269 in 2021, both for Facebook and Instagram. From and refugee communities. Ustaz Sophian Mohd January to June 2022, 80 items were reported on the Zain, an Islamic religious leader perpetuates this two social media platforms, out of which 66 were through documenting his harassment, verbal abuse subsequently restricted, including 19 items which and doxxing by revealing personal information and contained misinformation, having allegedly violated last known locations through his TIkTok platforms Section 505(b) of the Penal Code. The second half against the community. CIJ’s social media monitoring of 2022 was composed of 59 requests. For the also noted that user generated comments from these first half of 2023, there were 59 requests.91 In June platforms tend to steer towards hostile language 2023, MCMC announced that it will take legal action and calls for the erasure of migrant and refugee against Meta for failing to remove “undesirable communities. content” from Facebook. The content is related to 87 Government Requests to Remove or Restrict Content or Accounts In 2020, Twitter received 194 requests to remove content and complied with 59.2% of them. In 2021, there were 221 removal requests and a 27.6% compliance rate.88 In February 2022, Twitter suspended a pseudonymous account called Edisi Siasat (also Edisi Khas) for allegedly violating its terms of service.89 The account was investigated by the government several times for reporting on corruption and abuse of power involving government officials.90 Malaysia defamation, impersonation, online gambling, scam advertisements, and the 3Rs.92 Between July 2022 and June 2023, Meta addressed requests from the Malaysian communications regulator and various government entities by placing restrictions on more than 3,500 items.93 These encompassed content critical of the government and posts allegedly violating laws related to illegal gambling, hate speech, racial or religious division, bullying, and financial scams, according to Meta’s report. Google reported 42 requests throughout 2020, complying with 40.4% of them. In 2021, it received 80 requests and complied 165