China's intentions to influence the political process in Malaysia were clearly seen when the global subsidiary of the Beijing-based social media company ByteDance, Tik Tok influenced polls in the South Asian country, the Singapore Post reported.
The video-sharing social networking service controlled the elections by influencing the youth of the country. The Malaysian voters were influenced by the political parties extensively through the Chinese social media platform which produced videos and recruited social media influencers to target the young base who was its frequent users.
There are six million new voters, including over 1.2 million 18- to 21-year-olds who are newly eligible after a law lowering the voting age, the Singapore Post reported.
When the Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, was not previously a prominent role in the country's race-based politics, despite some electoral victories in rural Malay states in the east of the peninsular, the Tik Tok oversaw the electoral process. Muhyiddin capitalised on numerous Muslim sensitivities just before the election.
The Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, was not previously a prominent actor in the country's race-based politics, though it had achieved some electoral success in rural Malay states in the east of the peninsular. Muhyiddin exploited numerous Muslim sentiments in the run-up to the election.
In fact, Malaysian political parties have often been supportive of Chinese state narratives and repeated them to local audiences as Malaysia is home to a large Chinese diaspora and Chinese-language media landscape.
Malaysia has been the epicentre of a couple of major Chinese-language disinformation campaigns likely orchestrated by either Beijing or its political allies. There were no disinformation campaigns targeted at other languages in Malaysia.
China-based companies do not have a presence in Malaysia's digital television infrastructure, but other firms with close ties to the CCP have been gaining a presence in the social media and mobile phone sectors, creating potential vulnerability to future manipulation, stated Freedom house, according to Singapore Post.
In recent years, there have been some documented examples around the world of TikTok eliminating or downplaying politically sensitive content, including content that violates local Chinese censorship guidelines, however, the business has since claimed to fix errors.
According to the news agency, a TikTok spokeswoman revealed that the website does allow some Chinese official bodies to establish verified accounts, including the Chinese embassy in the United States.
( With inputs from ANI )
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