Govt has no power to block TikTok accounts, says home minister

The government has no authority to block TikTok accounts, says Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

Dismissing the allegation by Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor that the government had banned access to or deleted the content of his TikTok account, Saifuddin also said that the government had many other things to do.

He said the application belonging to Bytedance, a technology company from China, was the same as other social media applications where users have to adhere to the guidelines.

"Does the Malaysian government have the authority to ban the TikTok account? The answer is no. If TikTok receives a lot of reports and complaints from the public, then TikTok will ban the account.

"So, it was the public who initiated the ban, not the government. The public filed complaints and TikTok imposed the ban. Today, the Kedah MB said his TikTok content was erased. He said Malaysia has become like North Korea.

"I certainly do not agree because it wasn’t the government that did it. We have a lot of other things to do," he said in a Facebook post yesterday.

Earlier, during a ceramah in Baling, Kedah, Sanusi claimed that his TikTok account was blocked and described it as another attempt to prevent him from campaigning virtually ahead of the state polls. 

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said that it received no instructions to block access to or delete the content of the TikTok account of the Kedah menteri besar.

MCMC said it had scrutinised Sanusi’s statement claiming that the government had blocked access to or deleted the content of his TikTok account.

"MCMC can confirm (that) no instruction was received regarding this issue," it said in a statement.

According to MCMC, social media platforms have community guidelines that determine what actions can automatically be taken against users when there is a violation of guidelines, or based on public complaints.

"Such community guidelines set the expectations, promote inclusiveness and reduce harmful or offensive content that can disrupt public harmony," it said.