Short video platform TikTok said on Wednesday (Nov 23) it was on high alert for content that violates its guidelines in Malaysia after authorities warned of a rise in ethnic tension on social media following an inconclusive general election.
“We continue to be on high alert and will aggressively remove any violative content,” TikTok, which is owned by the China-based firm ByteDance, said in a statement.
TikTok said it had been in contact with Malaysian authorities on severe and repeat violations of its community guidelines since the lead-up to the election.
One of the alliances hoping to form a government is a conservative, largely ethnic Malay, Muslim group led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
It includes the Islamist party PAS, which has advocated for a strict interpretation of sharia Islamic religious law. Its electoral gains have raised concerns in a country with significant ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities, most of whom follow other faiths.Social media users have reported numerous TikTok posts since the election that mentioned a riot in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on May 13, 1969, in which about 200 people were killed, days after opposition parties supported by ethnic Chinese voters made inroads in an election.
TikTok said it had removed videos with May 13-related content that violated its community guidelines, saying it had “zero tolerance” for hate speech and violent extremism.
TikTok declined to reveal the number of posts it removed or the number of complaints it had received.
It told Reuters it would remove any accounts operated by users under the age of 13 after some parents complained that their children had been exposed to offensive content.
Source: Reuters
