© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The TikTok app emblem is seen on this illustration taken August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photograph
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By Rozanna Latiff and Danial Azhar
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fb-owner Meta and China’s TikTok restricted a report variety of social media posts and accounts in Malaysia within the first six months of 2023, knowledge printed by the corporations confirmed, amid a soar in authorities requests to take away content material.
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration, which got here to energy in November 2022 on a reformist platform, has confronted accusations of backpedaling on its guarantees to guard freedom of speech amid elevated scrutiny of on-line content material in latest months.
The federal government has denied allegations of stifling dissent on-line, saying it needed to curb provocative posts that contact on race, faith and royalty.
Between January and June this 12 months, Meta restricted about 3,100 pages and posts on its Fb (NASDAQ:) and Instagram platforms from being seen by customers in Malaysia as a result of they had been reported to have allegedly violated native legal guidelines, in line with knowledge printed within the agency’s twice-yearly Transparency Report this month.
The determine was six occasions greater than within the earlier half-year interval and the best for the reason that firm started reporting content material restrictions in Malaysia in 2017.
Meta stated between July 2022 and June 2023, it restricted entry to greater than 3,500 gadgets in response to experiences by Malaysia’s communications regulator and different authorities businesses.
The content material included criticism of the federal government and posts that allegedly violated legal guidelines on unlawful playing, hate speech, racially or religiously divisive content material, bullying and monetary scams, Meta’s report stated.
Brief video platform TikTok, in the same report issued final month, stated it had acquired 340 requests from the Malaysian authorities to take away or limit content material between January and June 2023, affecting 890 posts and accounts.
TikTok eliminated or restricted 815 of these for violating native legal guidelines or the platform’s group pointers – the best in a six-month interval because it started reporting requests from Malaysia in 2019, the information confirmed. It was triple the quantity TikTok eliminated within the second half of 2022.
Malaysia made extra requests to limit content material on TikTok than some other authorities in Southeast Asia, the information confirmed. Meta didn’t publish the overall variety of authorities requests it acquired for content material restrictions.
The Malaysian authorities didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the information. Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil stated this week the communications regulator typically acted upon complaints from bizarre customers, denying allegations that he had requested the company to hunt the elimination of posts vital of him on social media.
Race and faith are delicate points in Malaysia, which has a predominantly Muslim ethnic Malay inhabitants however important ethnic Chinese language and Indian minorities. It additionally has legal guidelines prohibiting seditious remarks or insults in opposition to its monarchy.
Fahmi stated in October that TikTok had not executed sufficient to curb defamatory or deceptive content material on its platform and accused it of failing to adjust to some native legal guidelines. TikTok stated it might take proactive measures to deal with the problems raised.
The federal government additionally threatened to take authorized motion in opposition to Meta for failing to behave in opposition to “undesirable” content material however dropped the plan after conferences with the corporate.
Free speech group Article 19 denounced the elimination of posts vital of the federal government and expressed considerations over its elevated requests to limit content material, warning that it may stifle reputable free speech and expression.
“It is never permissible to prohibit expression solely because it casts a critical view on social issues, public figures or government institutions,” stated Nalini Elumalai, its senior Malaysia programme officer.
