TIKTOK Malaysia has denied allegations that some 4,000 people have infiltrated its moderator group to conduct covert operations to promote only certain quarters.
According to TikTok Public Policy head Hafizin Tajudin, while the popular video-sharing platform promotes videos to provide diversity for its users, no political ads were allowed under its new policy for government, politician and political party accounts (GPPPA).
“We do promote a small fraction of videos to help diversify the content experience and introduce celebrities and emerging creators to the TikTok community,” he said in a statement.
“However, we do not allow political ads on the platform, which is further strengthened through the changes in the policies for GPPPA that was made last year.
“To that end, we do not allow paid ads that promote or oppose a candidate, government, current leader, political party or group, or issue at the federal, state, or local level.”
Responding to claims that a former employee is serving as a content moderator to promote certain quarters, Hafizin further clarified that TikTok Malaysia moderators do not have any authority or access to any forms of promotional tools for content.
“We have a robust quality assurance system in place to ensure that the political or personal opinions of our employees do not affect their work quality and ethics, including when performing content moderation tasks,” he remarked.
“TikTok’s content moderation decisions are based on a set of clearly defined Community Guidelines and have layers of checks and balances including quality assurance and third-party fact checkers, to uphold safety and ensure fairness in moderation.”
Yesterday Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil expressed concerns over rumblings on social media tha the moderation level on the popular app in Malaysia was biased or prejudiced.
“From what I’ve seen on social media, some have begun questioning the moderation level of TikTok in Malaysia, with some claiming that the moderation level is biased or prejudiced against a particular side,” he was reported as saying.
Fahmi further announced that he had reached out to TikTok authorities in Malaysia as these are serious accusations as there are claims that some 4,000 people have infiltrated the TikTok Malaysia moderator group.
Calling this a “serious allegation” as the group is supposedly “conducting a covert operation to promote certain quarters”, he further said he will be inviting TikTok representatives in Malaysia to study and review these moderators from a security perspective. – Mar 1, 2023
Main pic credit: CNBC
