The Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission has confirmed that it is blocking popular fan fiction site FanFiction.net. The site, which hosts user written stories and content, is said to have failed to take necessary steps to remove indecent content and resulted in the ban.
According to a report by The Star newspaper, the ban has been in place since 12 October. The site itself tweeted about the ban, saying that “Malaysia has joined Indonesia as the only two countries on earth that has blocked access to FanFiction.Net.”
Malaysia has joined Indonesia as the only two countries on earth that has blocked access to https://t.co/IqVFgtpPL3.?
— FictionPress (@FictionPress) October 12, 2017
On the other hand, the MCMC said in a statement that it “acted after receiving numerous complaints from the public including parents who are worried that their children were exposed to improper materials on the website such as adaptations of popular fictional characters familiar to most children, but with lewd and explicit sexual scenes written by anonymous online contributors.”
Fan fiction is often used by fans of particular shows to explore the universe or as writing practice. That said, the genre often wanders into rather explicit content and FanFiction.net was known for making it easy to find these kinds of stories. Thus, it really comes as no surprise that the MCMC has moved to block the site. What is surprising is that the commission took so long to notice its existence.
MCMC has been vigilant on clamping down on online materials that it deems offensive as of late. It blocked the entire Steam store for hosting the rather distasteful (but somehow hilarious) Fight of Gods. A ban that barely lasted 24 hours after Valve took steps to geo-block the title from Malaysia.
[Source: The Star]
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