Malaysia has ordered the social media platform TikTok to take “immediate” steps to improve how it regulates harmful content following the circulation of what it said were “grossly offensive” posts about the country’s king.
In a statement yesterday, The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said that TikTok had failed to “take sufficient and timely action” to moderate what it said was defamatory content about Sultan Ibrahim, the current monarch.
The action was initiated due to an account purported to be linked to the king, which disseminated material that was “grossly offensive, false, menacing, and insulting in nature, including AI-generated videos and manipulated images,” the MCMC said. All of these contravened Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
“Despite prior notifications and engagements, TikTok’s moderation response to the content has been found unsatisfactory, particularly in ensuring prompt removal and preventing further dissemination of harmful material,” the MCMC stated.
The agency added that it had issued a “statutory demand” requiring TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, to take immediate steps to enforce stronger measures against harmful content, and to provide “a formal explanation regarding its moderation failures.”
