Whistleblower channel Edisi Siasat inaccessible

Summary

• Whistleblower Telegram channel Edisi Siasat, with 1.18 million members, is now inaccessible in Malaysia.

• MCMC in court filing cites the channel’s violations of local laws, echoing its 2015 block on Sarawak Report over 1MDB-related content.

• The commission says Telegram’s inaction on multiple reports prompted its application for an interim injunction order from the High Court, which was granted.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to better reflect that Edisi Siasat became inaccessible following court action.

The whistleblower Telegram channel Edisi Siasat is no longer accessible following legal action initiated against it by the MCMC.

Checks by Malaysiakini revealed that the group, which had nearly 1.18 million members, cannot be viewed.

“This channel can’t be displayed because it violated local laws (Malaysia),” a message on the group’s page stated.

Earlier today, the MCMC said it had filed a civil action against two Telegram channels, namely Edisi Siasat and Edisi Khas.

The commission had also applied for and successfully obtained an interim injunction order from the High Court to stop the dissemination of content uploaded by the channels.

MCMC claimed that both channels were identified as spreading content that violated provisions under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Such content, it said, has the potential to erode trust in public institutions and affect public order.

MCMC added that the first-of-its-kind action against Telegram, an Application Service Provider (Class) licensee, came after the platform’s “serious failure” to address the repeatedly reported content.

Echoes of Sarawak Report

In pushing for the licensing of social media platforms, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil previously said the measure is needed to combat the spread of online crimes, including scams, gambling, and child pornography.

In 2015, MCMC blocked access to the news blog Sarawak Report after the whistleblower website was deemed to have published content which could threaten national security.

The UK-based website had earlier uploaded content about the 1MDB scandal.

The blocking enforced under the administration of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is serving a prison sentence linked to the 1MDB scandal, was lifted in 2018.

The site became accessible again in May that year, several days after Pakatan Harapan assumed power for the first time.

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