Malaysia’s authorities are keeping a close eye on social media platforms, particularly TikTok and Meta, which are being accused by local users of restricting access or removing posts supporting the Palestinian cause.

TikTok and Meta both say that the allegations are unfounded.

Malaysia’s Minister of Communications and Digital, Fahmi Fadzil, said in an X post that he had requested Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to issue strong warnings to TikTok and Meta against restricting pro-Palestine content. 

“If this issue is ignored, I will not hesitate to take a very firm approach and stance,” he said in Malay (translated).

Separately, Malaysia’s news outlets quoted Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as saying that Malaysia would continue to monitor reports alleging that TikTok had restricted and removed posts that support Palestinian causes.

Meta said there “is no truth to the suggestion that we are deliberately suppressing voice”. The company posted its global statement in three languages – English, Arabic and Hebrew. 

Meta said its policies, which apply across Facebook, Instagram and Threads, were designed to keep people safe on its apps while giving everyone a voice. 

Measures introduced since 7 October to address the spike in harmful and potentially harmful content spreading on its platforms were applied equally around the world, the platform said.

“However, content containing praise for Hamas, which is designated by Meta as a Dangerous Organisation, or violent and graphic content, for example, is not allowed on our platforms,” Meta said. The platform highlighted its appeals process for users who consider their content impacted in error by the guidelines.

In the three days following 7 October, Meta said it had removed or marked as disturbing more than 795,000 pieces of content for violating its policies in Hebrew and Arabic.

“As compared to the two months prior, in the three days following 7 October, we have removed seven times as many pieces of content on a daily basis for violating our Dangerous Organisations and Individuals policy in Hebrew and Arabic alone,” Meta said. 

“We want to reiterate that our policies are designed to give everyone a voice while keeping people safe on our apps. We apply these policies regardless of who is posting or their personal beliefs, and it is never our intention to suppress a particular community or point of view,” Meta said. 

Responding to charges of restricted reach, the platform said a bug that reduced reach had affected accounts equally around the globe – not only people trying to post about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza – and had been fixed, as had a bug that prevented people globally from going live on Facebook for a short time.

Measures takes include changing comment and profile settings to give users more control. A one-step “lock your profile” tool had also been rolled out.

Meta said it had set up a special operations centre soon after 7 October to monitor and respond to a rapidly evolving situation in real time. 

“This allows us to remove content that violates our Community Standards or Community Guidelines faster, and serves as another line of defense against misinformation,” the platform said on 13 Oct.

“We continue to enforce our policies around Dangerous Organizations and Individuals, Violent and Graphic Content, Hate Speech, Violence and Incitement, Bullying and Harassment, and Coordinating Harm,” Meta said.

TikTok said it remained “focused on supporting free expression, upholding our commitment to human rights, and protecting our platform during the Israel-Hamas war”.