27-10-2023 (KUALA LUMPUR) The Communications Minister of Malaysia, Fahmi Fadzil, issued a warning on Thursday, October 26, regarding the potential blocking of pro-Palestinian content on social media platforms TikTok and Meta. Fahmi stated that if these concerns were not addressed, he would not hesitate to take a firm stance on the matter.
While he did not provide specific details, Fahmi noted that numerous parties had called on the government to take action against social media platforms that were allegedly restricting content supporting the Palestinian cause.
In response, a spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, denied the allegations, stating that their policies are designed to ensure user safety while allowing for freedom of expression.
TikTok, on the other hand, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Both Meta and TikTok have designated Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group governing Gaza, as a “dangerous organization” and have policies against content that praises the group. They employ a combination of automated detection and human review to remove or label content that violates their guidelines.
Meta has taken additional steps, including lowering the threshold for taking action against potentially violative posts to prevent their promotion in user feeds. They also mentioned that some content removals were due to technical issues unrelated to the content’s subject matter.
In mid-October, Meta reported taking down or labeling nearly 800,000 pieces of content in Hebrew and Arabic during the three days following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. TikTok also reported removing numerous videos and livestreams related to the conflict.
Fahmi emphasized the importance of freedom of speech regarding the Palestinian cause and announced plans to meet with TikTok representatives in the coming week to discuss the matter. Two weeks prior, Fahmi had expressed concerns that TikTok had not fully complied with Malaysia’s laws and had not done enough to address defamatory or misleading content, to which TikTok had responded with a commitment to address the issues raised.
