SHORT-VIDEO platform TikTok has denied claims that it was persuaded to make selected political content go viral by a former staff member who was a PAS leader 

TikTok Malaysia public policy head Hafizin Tajudin said the platform had a quality assurance system to ensure the political or personal opinions of its employees do not affect their work quality and ethics, including in content moderation.

He was referring to the claims of a TikTok content creator that the Selangor PAS information chief worked at TikTok parent company ByteDance, and had served a stint in its content moderation team.

The accuser said others creating political content on the platform had seen their viewership inexplicably nosedive.

Hafizin dismissed the claims, saying the platform’s moderators do not have access to content promotional tools.

He also said the PAS leader in question is a “former employee”.

“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,” he said in a statement.

Hafizin said TikTok is neutral when moderating content, including political expression, based on the platform’s community guidelines.

He acknowledged that TikTok does promote a small fraction of videos to diversify the experience of its users and to introduce celebrities and emerging creators to the community, but it does not allow political advertising on the platform. 

TikTok is widely credited for Perikatan Nasional’s unexpected gains in the general election, after it successfully employed the platform to win youth support.

Content with a racial slant was widespread on the platform before and after the election campign, some of which were paid for. – March 1, 2023.