President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has ratified the Maldives Media and Broadcasting Regulation Bill (Act No. 16/2025), bringing the legislation into effect.

The bill was passed by the People’s Majlis at its Sixth Special Session, convened on Tuesday, 16 September 2025, outside the ordinary sitting.

60 members, including Abdul Hannan, the independent member for Thulhadhoo constituency who proposed the bill, voted to pass it. Only Mohamed Abbas, the MDA member for Velidhoo constituency, voted against passing the bill.

The Independent Institutions Committee of the Parliament passed the bill with the Counsel General's recommendations in the afternoon of that day. The committee had also passed the bill in a meeting held the day before.

In the Majlis session, four amendments proposed by PNC to the bill were passed.

In the Independent Institutions Committee meeting held last Tuesday, 72 amendments were proposed to the bill. These amendments were proposed by Abdullah Shareef, MP for Kelaa constituency and deputy chair of the committee.

While some of the concerns raised by journalists were addressed in his proposed amendments, some of the amendments that journalists have been highlighting were not changed.

When he proposed the amendments, Meekail Ahmed Naseem, MDP member of the committee and MP for Galolhu South constituency, requested an opportunity to propose additional amendments to the bill.

During this opportunity, Meekail read out each article of the bill separately, expressed concerns about those articles, and proposed to repeal them.

Among the important amendments proposed to the bill by Member Shareef on behalf of the government, the power given by Articles 17, 19, and 20 of the bill to appoint commission members has been removed.

Article 17 of the bill stated that three of the seven members of the commission would be appointed by the President with the approval of the Parliament.

However, it has been amended to state that the commission will consist of three members appointed by the Parliament and four members elected by the media. The article that allowed the President to send names to the Parliament for appointing three members to the commission has been changed to state that members will be selected from those who apply through a public announcement by the Parliament.

The qualifications for commission members have been expanded to include not being a member of a political party and not having shares in businesses providing communication and media services.

The method of electing members to the commission from the media has also been amended.

The provision that allowed broadcasters, media outlets, and journalists working in them that have been established for five years to vote in this election has been changed to state that only registered broadcasters and media outlets that have been established for three years will have one vote each in the election.

The article stating that the President of the commission would be appointed by the President sending a name to the Parliament has been changed to state that the Parliament will elect the President of the commission. It has also been included that the Vice President of the commission will be elected through a vote among the commission members.

An addition has been made to Article 28, which describes the circumstances under which a commission position becomes vacant, stating that if a member loses any of the qualifications mentioned in the article, 50 members who voted in the election can submit a request for dismissal, which can then be decided through a vote in the commission.

In Article 41, which outlines the standards for disclosing personal information, the provision stating that one must not unjustly intrude into the private sphere of various parties has been changed to state that respecting the private sphere of the person to whom such information pertains is the standard for disclosing information.

Article 67, which allowed for measures to be taken against individual journalists and those working in media, has been removed. The committee has also removed Article 66(f), which gave the commission the power to temporarily revoke a media outlet's registration as an administrative measure while investigating a case.

However, journalists who were present to observe the committee protested, calling for the bill to be rejected and not passed, noting that some articles in the bill still allow for action to be taken against media outlets, journalists, and opinions shared on social media.

Nevertheless, the committee chair, Hussein Riza, MP for Maafushi constituency, concluded that the bill was passed unanimously by the committee members present, along with the amendments proposed by Member Shareef.

The amendments proposed by Member Mickail to this bill, which was submitted by Abdul Hannan Abubakur, MP for Thulusdhoo constituency, were not put to a vote as no member seconded these amendments.