Segamat MP R Yuneswaran intends to submit a motion calling on the government to ban social media platform TikTok in the country.
The PKR lawmaker cited cybersecurity issues as one of the reasons for the ban.
“Applications like TikTok have courted the ire of many countries, including Malaysia, in terms of cybersecurity.
“The governments of Netherlands, India, Taiwan, and Norway are among the few countries which have imposed an absolute ban on the use of the application on government-owned devices, as a measure to protect their cyberspace from intrusion.
“Therefore, I will submit a motion in the near future to urge the Communications and Digital Minister (Fahmi Fadzil) to implement a phased ban on TikTok,” Yuneswaran (above) told Malaysiakini when contacted today.
Fahmi, who is the Lembah Pantai MP, has said that TikTok’s compliance with Malaysian laws was unsatisfactory and must be improved promptly.
The minister added that TikTok must be more proactive in curbing the spread of fake news and defamatory content on the platform, including the spread of Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour (CIB).
It was also reported that the Communications and Digital Ministry and MCMC will meet with TikTok this week.
Meanwhile, Yuneswaran claimed that e-commerce transactions on TikTok’s business feature, ‘TikTok Shop’, threatened the local business ecosystem.
“The increasing trend of user traffic in the country has been an appealing factor to traders from the republic (of China) to promote their products. They trade freely without serious monitoring from the MCMC,” he said.
“The big question I would like to raise here is: is TikTok Shop actually paying value-added tax (VAT) to the government since many influencers are making huge profits from their sales on the platform?
“The phased restrictions (I propose) are aimed at protecting local traders who face economic competition, as well as protect the nation’s cybersecurity,” he added.
On Oct 7, Fahmi said that the government will look into the action taken by the Indonesian government to ban e-commerce transactions on TikTok, before devising appropriate measures in the country.
He added that TikTok needed to come forward to explain Indonesia’s ban on TikTok Shop, as well as explain issues with its personal data protection. - Mkini
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