TikTok told to improve compliance with our laws and curb fake news, says Fahmi

PETALING JAYA: TikTok has promised to increase cooperation with the Malaysian government, says Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil (pic).

This came after a meeting between Fahmi and the social media platform's top management led by its vice president Helena Lersch on Wednesday (Oct 11), where issues relating to the spread of fake news and the operation of the TikTok Shop in Malaysia were discussed.

"I emphasised 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 on the platform, including the spread of 'coordinated inauthentic behaviour' (CIB).

"I stressed that TikTok's compliance with Malaysian laws is still unsatisfactory, and this must be rectified immediately," Fahmi said in a statement on Thursday (Oct 12).

He added that TikTok had admitted to a weakness in their response due to the absence of a representative in Malaysia at this time.

Fahmi said he also stressed the need for TikTok to find a solution to the issue of advertisements and content on the platform.

This was in response to complaints from businesses, the public and media agencies badly affected by advertisements being booked directly with the platform.

"TikTok has promised to increase cooperation with the government.

"Accordingly, it committed to hold further meetings as soon as possible to resolve these issues," he said.

On Oct 7, Fahmi said Malaysia would look into the action taken by the Indonesian government to ban ecommerce transactions on TikTok before devising appropriate measures in the country.

Indonesia banned ecommerce transactions on the platform to protect small and medium businesses.

CIB is a communication tactic that uses fake, duplicated and sometimes even real social media accounts to misrepresent themselves or mislead users to manipulate public opinion or debate.