The Post Stays Up
Medium Users,
As some of you have noted, Medium’s now blocked in Malaysia.
Here’s what happened.
The Sarawak Report’s website has been blocked in Malaysia since summer 2015. They continued to reach the Malaysian public through Medium.
Last Wednesday, January 20, we received an email from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission:
The post at issue had been published on Medium by the Sarawak Report two days earlier — “Najib Negotiates His Exit BUT He Wants Safe Passage AND All The Money! EXCLUSIVE DISCLOSURE.”
On January 21, we responded to the MCMC:
We’ve received no response. The next morning, Friday January 22, Medium users in Malaysia began reporting that Medium had been blocked there (at least by some ISPs, including Telekom Malaysia).
Medium’s in no position to evaluate the truth of the Sarawak Report’s Medium post. We’ve received no evidence that the post violates any of our Rules, or any law. We stand by investigative journalists who publish on Medium. Until we receive an order from a court of competent jurisdiction, the post stays up.
[Update: Digital News Asia’s reporting includes a statement from the MCMC confirming that it instructed ISPs to block Medium.]
