The Malaysian Insider news portal has been blocked by the Multimedia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Users of telco Celcom who tried to access the site were shown the official MCMC page for a blocked site, with the message saying the website was barred because "it violated national laws".
According to the notice, The Malaysian Insider had violated Section 233 of the Act, which deals with improper use of network facilities or network service.
The website is still accessible via other Internet Service Providers (ISP).
Malaysiakini discovered the block for Celcom users at around 4.45pm.
The Malaysian Insider , which turned eight today, said its readers who use the Unifi ISP also complained that they could not access the website.
“This is an unpleasant surprise. I've tried to contact MCMC but the officers are in a meeting," the editor and chief executive Jahabar Sadiq was quoted as saying.
When contacted, Jahabar said that MCMC told him it would be issuing a statement on the matter.
Happy 8th Birthday @tm_insider ! MCMC suggesting you take the day off. They could have at least sent you a cake.
— Premesh Chandran (@premesh) February 25, 2016
Malaysiakini is contacting Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak for their response.
The MCMC in a statement later today confirmed the block for producing content that allegedly violated Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.
It also warned other news portals not to circulate what it described as "unverified" information.
The government last week said it plans to table amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act to introduce heavier penalties for offences under the Act.
The government is also mulling mandatory registration for bloggers.
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MCMC confirms TMI ban, warns against unverified reports
