TikTok has responded to accusations by the Malaysian government that the social media platform was restricting pro-Palestinian content. Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation, had warned of potential action against both TikTok and Meta, claiming that their platforms were limiting content supporting the Palestinian cause. However, TikTok firmly denied these allegations, asserting that the claims were baseless. The platform emphasized that its community guidelines apply uniformly to all content, emphasizing its commitment to consistently enforce policies to safeguard its community.

Furthermore, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, expressed a similar stance, refuting Malaysia’s allegations of intentionally suppressing voices on its Facebook platform. Meta made it clear that there was no veracity to the accusations, and it was not deliberately restricting voices in support of Palestine.

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Both TikTok and Meta have categorized Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement governing Gaza, as a “dangerous organization,” and as a result, they prohibit content that praises it. These designations follow an attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in significant casualties. Israel reported that approximately 1,400 individuals, including children, were killed during the assault, with more than 200 people, including infants, taken hostage. In response, Hamas-controlled Gaza health authorities claimed that over 7,000 Palestinians were killed in Israeli retaliatory air strikes, including nearly 3,000 children. It’s important to note that Reuters could not independently verify these figures.

Since the outbreak of violence, both social media companies have taken measures to enhance content moderation. They have removed or labeled graphic content related to the conflict. Meta disclosed in mid-October that it had removed or labeled nearly 800,000 pieces of content in both Hebrew and Arabic in the days following the October 7 attack. Similarly, TikTok revealed that it had eliminated over 775,000 videos and 14,000 livestreams since the onset of the conflict.