Indonesia’s IT ministry reportedly called on popular video sharing platform TikTok to limit content insulting Palestine on its app, after officials found dozens of uploads containing hate speech directed at the foreign state.
A disturbing trend has emerged on Indonesian TikTok this past week, wherein young people are bashing Palestine and its people amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. This has resulted in the expulsion of a high school student in Bengkulu, as well as the arrest of a 23-year-old man in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) who now faces six years in prison under the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE).
With audio tracks containing insults directed at Palestine making its rounds among Indonesian users — resulting in at least 40 videos — the country’s Information and Communications Ministry (Kominfo) said they recently coordinated with TikTok to restrict such content on the app.
“TikTok has restricted [those] audio [tracks] so that it can no longer be used. The audio content was categorized in its high-risk library so we should expect that it won’t come up again,” ministry spokesman Dedy Permadi said.
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