PAS claims TikTok removed 20 videos featuring Terengganu MB

 

Selangor PAS information chief Zurk Ahmad said the videos did not touch on sensitive 3R (race, religion or royalty) issues at all but were still removed. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

A PAS leader has expressed concern over TikTok deleting around 20 videos by Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

Selangor PAS information chief Zurk Ahmad said the videos did not touch on sensitive 3R (race, religion or royalty) issues.

He said the content could have been removed due to concerns over the growing popularity enjoyed by PAS vice-president Samsuri following his win in the Kemaman by-election last December.

Zurk said the deleted content included Samsuri’s speech to Terengganu football players which received 1.3 million views, a video featuring 

Aunty Amy Chua

 (5.5 million views) and a parliamentary speech by Samsuri (700,000 views).

“These videos were solely about state matters and the menteri besar’s work.

What ‘community guidelines’ (laid down by TikTok) were breached?

 Zurk said in a Facebook post.

He said certain parties might be 

unsettled

 or 

threatened

 by Samsuri’s growing popularity, especially as the former lecturer and aerospace engineer had been touted as a potential prime ministerial candidate.

Zurk also criticised TikTok’s content moderation criteria, stating that several TikTok videos on US-based investment firm BlackRock and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) by former minister Khairy Jamaluddin were also removed from the platform.

“It is not impossible that ‘special instructions’ were issued.

“The public is aware of which ministry is the most active nowadays.

Their role is to monitor social media platforms, including (content by) opposition leaders,

 he said.

FMT has reached out to TikTok for comment.

On June 30, communications minister Fahmi Fadzil denied the government was involved in removing several TikTok videos by Khairy regarding BlackRock and MAHB.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) also said the posts were removed by TikTok based on their community guidelines and this decision was solely made by the social media platform.

Khairy had posted a notice from TikTok regarding the removal of two video clips about the MAHB deal, which he claimed lacked transparency.

He also raised doubts about the foreign partner’s expertise in airport management when compared to MAHB.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are poised to take up a 30% stake in MAHB through a consortium led by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which will own 40% of MAHB’s shareholding, and EPF owning 30%.

Critics have objected to the deal as GIP will be acquired in the third quarter of this year by BlackRock, which has stakes in US defence companies that allegedly manufacture weapons used by Israel. - FMT