Regulating Online Medicinal Advertisements in Malaysia: Legal Gaps, Enforcement Challenges, and Lessons from Australia

Abstract

The rapid growth of digital platforms has fundamentally transformed the promotion and consumption of health-related products, enabling online medicinal advertisements to reach consumers with unprecedented speed, scale, and cross-platform amplification. This paper critical review of the sufficiency of the legal framework in Malaysia regulating the online pharmaceutical advertisement, with respect to the Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Act 1956 (MASA 1956) and its supporting mechanisms in the Consumer Protection Act 1999 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. Using a qualitative doctrinal and comparative legal approach, the paper compares the regulatory framework of Malaysia to that of therapeutic goods advertising in Australia, which is regulated by Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code Instrument 2021. The analysis is based on four regulatory theories, Responsive Regulation, Deterrence Theory, Risk-Based Regulation and Risk Society Theory, and it shows that the framework in Malaysia is limited by definitional vagueness, non-binding rules, low fines in the statutes, and reactive enforcement mechanisms that are ineffective in the digital advertising ecosystem. The discussion concludes with specific reform suggestions to enhance the Malaysian regulatory control of online medicinal advertisements.