Last week, Facebook suppressed the Tentera Troll Kebangsaan Malaysia (TTKM) page over a satirical post that highlighted the alleged hypocrisy of DAP politicians over a rape allegation implicating one of them.
On the 4thof May 2019, thethirdforce.net was blocked for three hours right after it posted a satirical piece that referred to Lim Guan Eng as Nobita.
An intern from a local telco firm with knowledge of the matter confirmed that the blog was blocked pursuant to instructions by persons “high up,” presumably to allow them to carry out data analysis and (or) collection.
Several activists and a politician who were vocal against Tommy Thomas and the DAP had their pages purged altogether and are now struggling with data connections.
KUALA LUMPUR: A new form of censorship seems to be emerging in Malaysia.
Of late, telecommunication companies have been tampering with broadband speeds and data connections of politically active subscribers who persistently train their guns at the DAP and Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
A quick check with several activists and politicians reveal that their connections either get cut off temporarily or become snail-paced whenever they attempt to go live or share news feeds via Facebook.
If the attack is on UMNO, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PAS or PPBM, everything is ok.
But should the grouse be with Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Tony Pua, Anwar Ibrahim or any other DAP and (or) PKR politician, internet suddenly becomes an unreliable luxury.
This is particularly so with activists and leaders who either share feeds or conduct live telecasts at predetermined hours or announce beforehand that they’re going live.
In some cases, the sound gets disrupted. In others, the telcos seem to permanently cripple connection speeds just to frustrate and intimidate the activist.
Last week, Facebook suppressed the Tentera Troll Kebangsaan Malaysia (TTKM) page over a satirical post that highlighted the alleged hypocrisy of DAP politicians over a rape allegation implicating one of them.
On the 4thof May 2019, thethirdforce.net was blocked for three hours right after it posted a piece that referred to Lim Guan Eng as Nobita.
An intern from a local telco firm with knowledge of the matter confirmed that the blog was blocked pursuant to instructions by persons “high up,” presumably to allow them to carry out data analysis and (or) collection.
Several activists and a politician who were vocal against Tommy Thomas and the DAP had their pages purged altogether and are now struggling with data connections.
In most cases, attempts to reach the telcos to seek recourse proved futile.
THE THIRD FORCE
