Social media platform TikTok’s compliance with Malaysia’s laws was still “unsatisfactory” and needed to be rectified promptly, the communications minister said on Thursday.
In a Facebook post after meeting TikTok representatvies, Minister Fahmi Fadzil also said TikTok has not done enough to curb defamatory or misleading content in Malaysia.
He added that TikTok also had to address issues related to content distribution and advertising purchases following complaints.
Fahmi also said TikTok had assured him it would cooperate with the government and that its shortcomings were due to not having a representative in Malaysia at present.
“During the discussion, I emphasized that TikTok needs to operate according to Malaysian guidelines and laws. TikTok must also be more proactive in curbing the spread of fake news and defamatory material spread on the platform, including the spread of ‘Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour’ (CIB),” he wrote.
A discussion involving the Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and TikTok will be held next week, he said. This was being scheduled following his meeting with the social platform’s top management, led by TikTok global vice president Helena Lersch, national news agency Bernama reported.
“… we also touched on Tiktok Shop and I have requested additional information from TikTok Shop which will be examined by KKD in these coming weeks,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Fahmi said the situation in Malaysia is different from Indonesia, which has banned e-commerce transactions on TikTok, adding that the government must consider several factors before making any further decisions, according to the report.
“I have requested some information from TikTok Shop to fully understand the situation including matters mentioned by President Jokowi such as predatory pricing, data sharing and data sovereignty. We have conveyed it to TikTok Shop and they will provide feedback. We will examine this feedback and will act afterwards, if necessary,” he was quoted as saying.
Owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, TikTok has recently come under scrutiny in Southeast Asia. Last week, Indonesia’s government has halted transactions on its platform following a ban on e-commerce trade on social media. It was reported that Vietnam probes the app for “toxic” content.
Indonesia bans e-commerce transactions on social media platforms such as TikTok – report