Malaysia has issued a statutory demand to TikTok due to shortcomings in content moderation.

      The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has issued its first official enforcement action under Section 39 of the Online Safety Act 2025, targeting TikTok, which could face a maximum financial penalty of RM10 million if it does not present a viable moderation plan. According to a report by Reuters on Thursday, MCMC has formally demanded that TikTok address what regulators describe as a chronic inability to manage inappropriate content on its platform.

      This demand represents the initial implementation of Section 39 under the Online Safety Act 2025, which has been effective since January 1, 2026. The context for this demand is the deemed-licensing framework first outlined by Bloomberg in December 2025, which requires large social media platforms with at least eight million users in Malaysia (including TikTok, Meta, Telegram, and WeChat) to operate as licensees under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

      The enforcement notice from MCMC in January 2026 triggered the statutory-duty framework. Section 39 of the Online Safety Act allows MCMC to impose a financial penalty of up to RM10 million on any non-compliant provider, which can be recovered as a civil debt. Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has been publicly escalating toward this enforcement for almost nine months. In a September 2025 report by Free Malaysia Today, he warned that TikTok "may face legal action for failing to address ongoing issues regarding content moderation." Regulators have specifically pointed out gaps in TikTok’s handling of Tamil-language live-streaming and short-form video moderation.

      From January to August 2025, MCMC requested the removal of 86,732 videos from TikTok, achieving an 86% removal rate, leaving 10,730 videos that were not taken down. The new statutory demand requires TikTok to submit a formal moderation plan that includes measurable commitments regarding staffing and to demonstrate compliance within a defined timeframe. TikTok’s previous responses to MCMC have not satisfied the regulator, particularly concerning the number of Tamil and Malay language moderators managing content on TikTok Live and short-form videos.

      During a September 2025 meeting, where Fahmi escalated the situation to a public threat, it was noted that this was the third such session in which TikTok did not provide numerical answers regarding moderator counts. The regulatory environment extends beyond Malaysia's specific demand; in the UK, Ofcom's enforcement of the Online Safety Act is imposing similar demands on TikTok, Roblox, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube, with fines already issued ranging from £520,000 to £1.05 million against smaller non-compliant providers.

      Additionally, a recent FTC complaint by Fairplay and the NCSE against Roblox in the US aligns with the broader movement toward holding platforms accountable, particularly in terms of child safety. As framed by Bloomberg, Malaysia has emerged as the most proactive Section 39-style regulator in Southeast Asia.

      However, the demand does not clarify the exact timeframe TikTok has to submit the moderation plan, nor does it specify the exact incidents that prompted this formal demand, beyond the overall history of engagement sessions, or the precise financial penalty amount being considered within the RM10 million statutory limit. The report on Thursday marks the first clear test of this situation. TikTok's forthcoming response, due within the statutory timeframe, will be a crucial indication of how the deemed-licensing framework influences operational moderation commitments among major platforms engaging with Malaysian users.