KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — Malaysian authorities are escalating pressure on Telegram after accusing the messaging platform of routinely ignoring requests to take down harmful content — a move that has led to a rare civil suit and threats of stricter regulation.
In a Free Malaysia Today report, Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said Telegram has shown the lowest compliance rate among all major social media platforms in Malaysia, acting on fewer than half of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) takedown requests.
“I have ordered MCMC to call Telegram for a meeting next week to discuss the issue,” Fahmi told reporters today after an event in Pantai Dalam.
The remarks come days after MCMC filed a civil lawsuit against Telegram and two of its prominent channels — Edisi Siasat and Edisi Khas — for allegedly disseminating content that could erode trust in public institutions and threaten social order.
The regulator said the two channels had published material in breach of Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and that this was the first time legal action had been taken against a social media platform with a local licence. Telegram is registered as an application service provider (class) in Malaysia.
“The move follows Telegram’s serious failure to address content that has been repeatedly reported to it, despite multiple negotiation and cooperation efforts by MCMC,” the commission said in a statement.
Fahmi added that MCMC had flagged over 1.18 million pieces of harmful content across platforms as of June 24 this year. Only 173,642 of those were removed.
“Of this number, 51 per cent of the content removed were online gambling ads, while 24 per cent were online scams,” he said.
“We will take strict action to ensure Malaysians do not become victims of cybercrime.”
While MCMC has no power to directly remove content itself, it can issue requests and expects platform providers to comply.
Fahmi stressed that the platforms ultimately bear the responsibility for restricting access to such material in Malaysia.
