Parliament, on Wednesday, has accepted the Media Bill, granting the government significant control over the media, despite significant backlash and urgent appeals to reject the controversial bill.
The Parliament, where ruling PNC holds supermajority, accepted the Media Bill during an extraordinary sitting held out of session on Wednesday with the votes of 49 MPs. 12 MPs voted against accepting the bill.
The Media Bill was submitted to the Parliament by Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan Aboobakr, an independent lawmaker aligned with the government and a medium-scale businessman with no background in media. Hannan had previously introduced a similar bill aimed at media regulation, which was ultimately rejected. However, ruling PNC, holding a supermajority in parliament, has now publicly backed the current iteration of the bill.
Both journalists and opposition figures have raised concerns over the bill which proposes hefty fines on individual journalists, ranging from MVR 5,000 to MVR 25,000, while media outlets could face penalties of MVR 100,000. Furthermore, the proposed legislation would empower a commission to revoke media outlet registrations and suspend newspaper operations even before a full investigation of alleged infringements.
In response to these potential ramifications, both the Maldives Media Council and the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) have urged the rejection of the bill.
During Wednesday’s extraordinary sitting, opposition MDP and journalists protested against the bill outside the People’s Majlis building.
While some pro-government MPs debated in support of the bill during the sitting, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has stated he has no intention of controlling the media, adding a recommendation will be made to remove undue powers granted to the president under the new bill. 
The government’s spokesperson Heena Waleed previously asserted that the bill would safeguard media freedom and empower journalists.