At least 16 of the 23 banned TikTok accounts in MY restored

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Several TikTok accounts belonging to Malaysian media outlets are up and running again, after previously being removed by TikTok as a result of artificial-intelligence (AI) moderation.

The news accounts had been banned due to their coverage of an alleged sexual assault case which went against the social media platform’s community guidelines. Some of these accounts were the outlets’ main news accounts, as well as their sub-accounts.

Don’t miss: TikTok must comply with MY laws for content moderation, says Fahmi Fadzil

According to the Rakyat Post, and additional checks by A+M, some 16 out of the 23 accounts have been unbanned, including:

Berita FMT
FMT Lifestyle
Malay Mail
Buletin TV9
Sinar Harian
Kosmo
Bernama Official, TV & Radio
Harian Metro
Kool101
Majoriti Official
Buletin TV3
Selangor TV
Astro Awani
Sinar Daily
Sinar Harian
Utusan TV

Most recently, Sinar Daily reported that two other content creators, Mek Yun and her brother Abe Wee, shared that their TikTok accounts were permanently removed. However within a day, Mek Yun shared that her account was restored, but Abe’s account remained banned. Mek Yun’s TikTok account had 1.4 million followers.

Previously, communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said that TikTok will be called up for a meeting on Monday (3 March) together with the heads of the affected local media companies to discuss the account bans. He also called on TikTok to comply with Malaysian laws for content moderation, and pointed out that the firm was turning a blind eye towards online scams and gambling content occurring on its platform.

Fahmi also said, in a report by Free Malaysia Today, that the problem lies with TikTok's AI itself. He warned that AI can sometimes go too far and not understand that media organisations were reporting content differently from regular social media users. The minister

He added that his ministry was looking to hold discussions with TikTok to refine the functions of any accounts on the platform owned by local media outlets to prevent such bans from happening again in the future.

Fahmi said that this was an opportunity to discuss how TikTok can provide more flexibility, or to give distinctive statuses to media companies who are merely reporting on the news.

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