Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, reported a surge in requests from the Malaysian government to remove content or block social media accounts in the first six months of 2023.
Reuters reported that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration faced accusations of breaking his promise to protect freedom of expression with claims that online content in Malaysia has been scrutinised more closely in recent months.
However, it was reported that the Malaysian government has denied claims that it is suppressing online dissent, insisting instead that it wants to curb provocations that touch on race, religion and royalty (3R).
Meta says requests are the highest since they started reporting on restrictions
Based on data published by Meta’s Transparency Report which comes out twice a year, between January and June this year, about 3,100 pages and posts on its Facebook and Instagram platforms were restricted for allegedly violating local laws.
The figure is reportedly six times higher than the previous half-year and the highest since the company began reporting content restrictions in Malaysia in 2017.
Between July 2022 and June 2023, Meta says that it restricted access to more than 3,500 pieces of content in response to reports by Malaysia’s communications regulator and other government agencies.
The content includes criticism of the government and posts that allegedly violate laws on illegal gambling, hate speech, racially or religiously divisive content, bullying and financial fraud.
TikTok reports similar jump in its report
Meanwhile, the short video platform TikTok, also said that it received 340 requests from the Malaysian government to remove or block content between January and June 2023, affecting 890 posts and accounts in a similar report which was released last month.
The platform removed or blocked 815 users for violating local laws or TikTok community guidelines, the highest in six months since it began reporting requests from Malaysia in 2019.
The platform says the content removed by TikTok is three times more than in the second half of 2022.
Malaysia reportedly made more requests to block content on TikTok than any other government in Southeast Asia, while Meta does not publish the number of government requests it receives for content blocking.
However, the Malaysian government refused to comment further on the data while the Minister of Communications, Fahmi Fadzil, denied claims that he asked the agency to remove content criticising him on social media.
Fahmi was quoted saying that last October, TikTok was not doing enough to curb defamatory or misleading content on its platform and accused it of failing to comply with some local laws. TikTok said it will take proactive steps to address these issues.
Meanwhile, the government also threatened to take legal action against Meta for failing to act on ‘undesirable’ content but dropped the plan after meeting with the companies involved.
