Malaysian regulators have taken formal action against global short-video platform TikTok, demanding the company explain and fix its repeated failure to rapidly remove harmful content that targets the country’s royal establishment. The Communications and Multimedia Commission announced the legal order Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, confirming the move comes after widespread circulation of severely inappropriate material targeting the monarchy, including AI-manipulated videos and altered images spread from an account that falsely claimed affiliation with King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar.
In its official statement, the regulator emphasized that content touching on Malaysia’s core sensitive domains of race, religion, and royalty carries unique gravity. Unauthorized and insulting material in these areas does not merely violate online community standards, it also poses a direct threat to public order, national unity, and public respect for the country’s constitutional institutions, the commission noted.
The agency added that Malaysian authorities had already notified TikTok of the problematic content and held prior discussions with the platform to secure content removal. Despite these previous engagements, TikTok’s content moderation response fell far short of expectations, particularly when it came to speedily taking down harmful posts and blocking their further spread across the platform.
TikTok, which has not issued any public statement on the regulatory action to date, also declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Associated Press. The legal notice delivered to the company requires two core actions: first, a full explanation of why its moderation systems failed to catch and remove the content in a timely manner; second, immediate remedial steps to strengthen its content moderation infrastructure and step up enforcement against any content that violates Malaysian national law or domestic community standards.
The commission stressed that all social media platforms operating within Malaysian borders bear a fundamental responsibility to proactively prevent unlawful and damaging activity on their services. It also issued a clear warning that regulators will continue to implement firm, proportionate enforcement measures going forward to ensure all digital platforms uphold their obligations to maintain a safe, respectful online ecosystem for Malaysian users.
This latest action against TikTok aligns with Malaysia’s broader ongoing effort to tighten regulatory oversight of large digital platforms operating within its jurisdiction. Over the past several years, Malaysian authorities have ramped up enforcement against social media companies over a range of issues, from harmful content and public order threats to scams and unregulated online gambling.