KUCHING, May 28: Telegram has been ‘unwilling to cooperate’ with the Ministry of Communications and Digital despite repeated requests for a meeting since January.
According to a MalayMail news report yesterday, Communications and Digital Minister Ahmad Fahmi Mohamed Fadzil stated that his ministry has received numerous complaints about the platform’s ongoing misuse, including for scams, pornography, and illegal drug sales.
Fahmi disclosed that he has tasked the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) with determining the necessary course of action.
“This is because we have received many complaints, and we do not see that there is sincerity on the part of Telegram to cooperate,” he said, as quoted by the national daily.
Fahmi mentioned that the majority of other social media platforms have been working with the ministry. These include TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.
Cases of Telegram hacking have been on the rise recently, and Malaysian politicians have been among the victims.
On July 29, 2022, former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Dato Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced that his Telegram account was hacked by an unknown individual.
Wan Junaidi explained that the con artist impersonated him by using his name and photograph to solicit funds from the general public via the Telegram app.
On Aug 8, 2022, media outlets reported that former Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s Telegram account was hacked and misused for scams.
This was followed shortly by reports of former Foreign Affairs Minister Dato Sri Saifuddin Abdullah’s Telegram account also getting hacked, just hours after Ismail Sabri suffered the same fate.
In addition, Serian MP Dato Sri Richard Riot Jaem’s Telegram account was also hacked last year and earlier this year. — DayakDaily
