TikTok used to be just the app where Gen Z kids can post videos of them dancing to, but since then it’s blown up to be one of the biggest social media platforms out there, with over a billion users worldwide. That however has brought some unfortunate trends such as the rise of racially charged content during the lead up and days after the recent general election.
Plenty of videos begin popping up on TikTok apparently inciting a potential repeat of the May 13 riots—a racial riot that had happened following the 1969 general election. The police had since released a statement calling for people to not cause trouble or threaten national security using social media platforms. TikTok for their part had also begun taking down May 13-related videos that violated their community guidelines.
Kenyataan Media
— MCMC (@MCMC_RASMI) November 30, 2022
TIGA (3) KLIP VIDEO AMARAN RUSUHAN 13 MEI BERBAYAR: MCMC DAN PDRM TELAH PANGGIL TIKTOK BERI PENJELASAN. pic.twitter.com/t5KmBaMi7Z
However, it seems that TikTok is not out of the woods yet, as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) together with the police have called up TikTok Malaysia’s management to provide further explanation over the May 13-related videos. Specifically, it seems that the issue appears to be that at least three of the videos that went viral were paid for, meaning that they had the ‘paid partnership’ label on them, which implies it was paid for by others to sponsor the video.
According to Malaysiakini, of these three videos, one of them showed a scenery of a field and some trees, along with a caption implying the return of another May 13 incident. Another had old newspaper clippings from the May 13 incident itself along with a caption that had a hashtag showing support for Perikatan Nasional, while a third falsely accused DAP politician Lim Kit Siang of inciting racial tension and insulting the police.
More needs to be done by these social media platforms to control harmful content, as they control the content and information millions of Malaysians see and consume everyday. It’s not just TikTok either, as other major platforms like Facebook are often used also for promoting sponsored posts that are typically scam ads, like ‘free VPN‘ or ‘free Bitcoin’ sponsored posts.
The MCMC added that in the meantime the public can also play a role in ensuring such content doesn’t go unchecked. Users can do their part by not sharing and spreading these videos as well as not uploading them onto other social media platforms. Instead, the public can report them to the authorities via their 1800-188-030 complaint hotline, the MCMC WhatsApp channel at 0162206262, email them at [email protected] or the MCMC complaint portal which you can access here.
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