Majority of Malaysia’s blocked websites linked to online gambling

Gambling websites constituted the majority of sites blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission from January of 2022 to August of this year.

According to the MCMC, a total of 10,423 websites were blocked during this period due to various legal violations.

Out of these, 4,484 websites were blocked for online gambling activities, 3,271 for pornography and 1,654 for copyright infringement. Additionally, 316 websites were removed for involvement in scams or illegal online investments, and 249 were blocked for prostitution-related content. The reasons for blocking the remaining 449 websites were not specified.

The MCMC reported that the highest number of harmful websites blocked in the past five years was in 2021, with a total of 6,571. The number of blocked websites has since shown a declining trend: 4,572 were blocked in 2022, 3,724 in 2023 and 2,127 between January and August 1 of this year.

Malaysia’s move follows news that Indonesia will soon sanction digital payment platforms that facilitate online gambling transactions.

The Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Budi Arie Setiadi, revealed on Saturday that his ministry has issued warning letters to 21 providers responsible for 42 digital payment applications.

These warnings were prompted by evidence suggesting that these platforms were being used for gambling-related payments. The ministry’s letter instructed the service providers to conduct internal audits of their payment systems and submit the findings within a seven-day window.

Setiadi stressed that failure to comply within this timeframe would result in administrative penalties.

This move is part of Indonesia’s broader efforts to combat online gambling. On June 14, 2024, President Joko Widodo signed a decree to establish a task force dedicated to eradicating online gambling.

In June, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) reported that it had blocked thousands of bank accounts connected to online gambling, amounting to a total of IDR600 trillion ($36.39bn).