PROGRES.ID – The social media platform TikTok stated on Friday (27/10/2023) that the accusations made by the Malaysian government, claiming they blocked pro-Palestine content, are “unfounded.”
Malaysia, with a majority Muslim population, threatened action against social media companies TikTok and Meta on Thursday, stating that their platforms had been accused of limiting content supporting Palestine.
Meta responded on Thursday, asserting that there is no truth to the allegations, and they did not intentionally suppress voices on their Facebook platform.
A TikTok spokesperson also refuted Malaysia’s claims of blocking pro-Palestine content.
“The statement is unfounded. Our community guidelines apply equally to all content on TikTok, and we are committed to consistently enforcing our policies to protect our community,” the spokesperson said via email to Reuters, as reported on Friday (27/10/2023).
Both Meta and TikTok have designated Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, as a “terrorist organization” and prohibited content praising them.
Hamas members attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7th. Israel reported that around 1,400 people, including children, were killed, and more than 200 people, some of them infants, were taken hostage in the attack.
The Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, reported on Thursday that approximately 7,028 Palestinians were killed in Israeli retaliatory airstrikes, including 2,913 children.
However, according to Reuters, these figures cannot be independently verified on the ground.
Since the outbreak of violence, both social media companies have taken steps to enhance moderation, removing or labeling graphic visual content.
Meta stated in mid-October that they had removed or labeled nearly 800,000 Hebrew and Arabic language content pieces in the days following the October 7th attack.
Likewise, TikTok stated this week that they had removed over 775,000 videos and 14,000 live broadcasts since the occurrence of the attack.
Source: Reuters
