India had blocked TikTok a few years ago for security reasons following a spat with China. The United States, UK, New Zealand, Australia and France have banned the installation of TikTok on the work devices of civil servants for the same reason. Maybe Malaysia will do the same thing.
According to a Malaysiakini report, Segamat member of parliament R Yuneswaran plans to bring a motion to the Dewan Rakyat to ban TikTok in Malaysia as well. According to him, this motion was brought after taking into account the cyber security issue that is now associated with the application of the China-based company Bytedance. He also urged the Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD) to implement a phased full ban on video streaming applications which are very popular in Malaysia now.
Since starting operations in Malaysia, there have been various issues related to the spread of inaccurate information on TikTok. After several meetings, TikTok agreed to be more proactive in spreading videos, especially those that touch on the 3R issue.
In a meeting with TikTok representatives on October 12, KKD minister Fahmi Fadzil said TikTok admitted there were weaknesses in their response, and this happened due to the absence of representatives in Malaysia. At the same time, TikTok also assured to increase cooperation with the Malaysian government.
TikTok has issued several statements denying that they are spying for the Chinese government, but efforts to ban them have now begun in Malaysia.