Malaysian government in talks with TikTok to restore 18 media outlets’ accounts blocked by AI: Minister

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government is in talks with social media platform TikTok to restore 18 accounts belonging to media outlets that have been blocked due to artificial intelligence (AI) moderation, said Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

Preliminary reports suggest the accounts were banned due to the outlets’ coverage of an alleged sexual assault of a young girl at a mosque in Selangor last Friday (Feb 21), Fahmi said on Monday (Feb 24). 

Accounts blocked by TikTok include that of Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama and television news outlet Buletin TV3. The ban was still in force as of 3.30pm on Monday.

“The problem is TikTok’s artificial intelligence itself … AI can sometimes go too far and not understand that media organisation reporting is different from the content produced by ordinary people,” Fahmi was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today at the launch of the “AI in the Newsroom” programme organised by Bernama in Kuala Lumpur.

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Sexual assault cases are usually reported by media organisations and should not become an issue, he added.

Videos of the case in question went viral over the weekend. In closed-circuit television footage, a man was seen sneaking into the women’s prayer area of a mosque in Batang Kali, Selangor.

He approached the girl from behind and attempted to carry her away unnoticed.

The 19-year-old suspect is under remand for seven days to assist Selangor police with their investigation.

The case is being investigated under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.

Fahmi said the government has asked TikTok to restore the accounts and provide an explanation to both the government and media outlets.

He has asked for a discussion to be held in the near future to “refine the functions" of TikTok accounts owned by the media so that such bans do not happen going forward.

“I see an opportunity here for us to discuss with TikTok to give more flexibility or perhaps give a different status to media companies since they are creating reports and we also have our own guidelines or (codes) of conduct,” he added. 

TikTok’s community guidelines state child sexual abuse material is not allowed, including any screenshots or clips of the original material, even if they do not show nudity or sexual activity. 

TikTok is one of the tech companies that holds an Applications Service Provider Class licence in Malaysia. The licensing framework, effective from Jan 1, is aimed at protecting the public from perceived online harm. Social media and internet messaging platforms with at least eight million registered users in Malaysia are required to comply with the new policy.

According to Fahmi, TikTok previously informed the Malaysian government it would be increasing the use of AI moderation. 

At the same event, Bernama chief executive Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin expressed hope the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission could facilitate the restoration of the TikTok accounts of all the agencies involved. 

“We are simply reporting an incident that occurred in our country,” Nur-ul Afida was quoted as saying by Bernama.