Malaysia warns TikTok, Meta over alleged blocking of pro-Palestinian content
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysia's communications minister warned on Thursday he could take firm action if social media firms TikTok and Meta are blocking pro-Palestinian content on their platforms.
Meta said it was not deliberately suppressing voices on its Facebook (NASDAQ:META) platform, after Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said social media platforms had been accused of restricting content supporting the Palestinians.
«If this issue is ignored, I will not hesitate to take a very firm approach and stance,» Fahmi said in a posting on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Without elaborating, Fahmi said many parties had urged the government to take firm action against social media platforms that restrict pro-Palestinian content.
A Meta spokesperson said there was «no truth» to the claim.
«Our policies are designed to keep people safe on our apps while giving everyone a voice,» the spokesperson said in an email to Reuters on Thursday.
TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Both Meta and TikTok designate Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, as a «dangerous organization» and ban content praising the group. They also use a mix of automated detection and human review to remove or label graphic visuals.
In response to the conflict, Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has taken such added steps as lowering the threshold at which its technology takes action against potentially violative posts to avoid inadvertently showing them in feeds as recommended content.
The company said some of the take-downs perceived as penalizing support for Palestinians were actually caused by an unrelated technical bug that «had nothing to do with the subject matter
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