KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia has ordered tech giants Meta and TikTok to come up with plans to counter harmful content online, the authorities said on April 9.
The move came after a spike in reports on offensive material made to social media platforms, even as the Anwar Ibrahim administration grapples with rising tensions over religious controversies in the Muslim-majority country.
The government reported nearly 52,000 cases of harmful content on various social media platforms, including Meta’s Facebook and TikTok, in the first three months of 2024, compared with 43,000 for the whole of 2023.
Both tech firms attended a meeting led by Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil on April 8 and were instructed to step up their monitoring efforts, including the removal of posts linked to scams and illegal gambling.
“TikTok and Meta have been required to provide an improvement plan and strategy with comprehensive details, as agreed in the meeting,” said internet watchdog Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and the police in a joint statement on April 9.
The authorities said they were particularly concerned about the so-called “3R” posts related to race, religion and royalty.
Communal tensions have been rising in Malaysia as the government faces a slew of religious issues, including a huge controversy over the recent sale of socks printed with the word “Allah” by convenience store chain KK Super Mart.
Petrol bombs were thrown at three KK Super Mart outlets amid boycott calls and a heated debate over the sale of the socks.
KK Super Mart founder Chai Kee Kan has apologised repeatedly, including to Malaysia’s King. Chai was charged with wounding the religious feelings of others on March 26.
Besides Facebook, Meta also owns WhatsApp and Instagram. Short-video platform TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance.
But just as the dust appeared to be settling over the socks controversy, another scandal emerged over the weekend regarding a shoe logo that appeared to resemble the word “Allah”. The police seized more than 1,000 pairs of the shoes.
Malaysian shoe company Vern’s Holdings has since apologised and stopped selling the footwear.
In an unusual move, the King, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, has waded into the controversy several times, first calling for stern action to be taken against those responsible for the socks incident, and then warning Malaysians against taking advantage of the scandal.
He told political leaders to bridge religious differences instead of adding to the division.
“Leaders must be a bridge or link between the diverse people of our country with examples of mature behaviour,” the King said in a Facebook post on April 9.
He also granted an audience to senior leaders from Umno and its ally Democratic Action Party on religious and racial issues. One of the leaders included Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh, who was briefly detained by police on April 5 after calling for a boycott of KK Super Mart over the socks fracas.
Mr Akmal wrote in a Facebook post that he would “heed the King’s decree to maintain national harmony”.
With recent tensions threatening to come to a head, Malaysian Chinese Association vice-president Wee Jeck Seng urged the government to set up a special task force to promptly deal with religious issues to prevent them from escalating.
“We can avoid situations where individuals are subjected to public scrutiny, trial by media or even vigilante action.
“These situations have led to individuals taking the law into their own hands, resulting in boycotts, ostracism or even acts of sabotage, resulting in widespread fear and tension,” he said in a statement on April 8.
