The United Kingdom (UK) has urged the Maldivian government to maintain press freedom after President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu signed the media bill that allows the government considerable control over the media.

On Friday, the UK High Commission in the Maldives posted on X, highlighting that Commonwealth leaders, including those from the UK and Maldives, reaffirmed the essential role of free, independent, and responsible media in democracy at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.

The meeting was attended by Maldives' Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef. The High Commission called for the honoring and upholding of the commitments made collectively.

On August 18, Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan Aboobakr, an independent legislator associated with the government, proposed a bill aimed at abolishing the Maldives Media Council (MMC) and the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (BroadCom), substituting them with one regulatory institution — a seven-member Maldives Media and Broadcasting Commission (MMBC).

The legislation, heavily criticized by both local and global journalism organizations for its unclear and ambiguous language, received explicit support from the People's National Congress (PNC) government, with a senior party official, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, acknowledging his role in the drafting.

The Parliament continued to work during recess on the bill, and the PNC utilized its supermajority to guarantee its approval with a majority vote of 60-1 in a special session on Tuesday, amidst protests inside and outside the Parliament – the internal protests resulted in several members of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) being forcibly removed from the chambers.