Malaysia Calls in TikTok Authorities Over Fake News Response Delays

2025-09-07 02:36:58

(MENAFN) Malaysia’s government has called in senior executives from TikTok over what it describes as unacceptable delays in addressing misinformation on the platform, according to a local news agency.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil criticized the Chinese-owned social media company for being sluggish in cooperating with Malaysian police investigations. He pointed to a recent incident involving a man who falsely claimed on TikTok to be a pathologist linked to the probe into the high-profile death of a Malaysian teenager.

"TikTok was very slow in providing information to PDRM (Malaysian police), to the point that I had to call TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to inform him, 'this is a crime that's being committed and your organisation is very slow',” Fahmi told Bernama. "We cannot allow such an attitude," he added.

The company’s representatives are scheduled to appear before the Communications Ministry on Thursday.

Fahmi also revealed that Meta Platforms Inc, the U.S.-based parent company of Facebook, will be summoned to explain its failure to curb what he described as “immoral” content. Among the concerns is the circulation of material linked to pedophilia, particularly involving a viral online group known as ‘Geng Budak Sekolah’, which gained traction across WhatsApp and Facebook.

"We see these platforms are not taking the matter seriously, so the dialogue process will continue, and we will stress that Malaysian law applies to them and they must comply. We will summon every platform,” he said.

To combat rising cybercrime, including scams and the spread of deepfake content, the Malaysian government is also considering a policy that would mandate identity verification for all sales conducted through social media platforms.

In a broader regional context, Fahmi confirmed that the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Safe and Responsible Use of Social Media Platforms will be officially endorsed at the upcoming 47th ASEAN Summit in October.

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