Disinformation and hate speech: Ethnoreligious rhetoric on TikTok during Malaysia’s 15th general election (GE15) 2022

Abstract

The 15th Malaysian general election (GE15) on November 19th, 2022, saw the continued use of digital information warfare as a prominent feature in the country’s political landscape. Similar to past elections, various information warfare tactics were employed, including disinformation dissemination and ethnoreligious rhetoric on social media. This study focuses on disinformation and hate speech spread via TikTok, one of Malaysia's most popular digital platforms for political discourse and propaganda. By analyzing videos related to GE15 using selected trending hashtags and keywords, 2,789 videos posted between November 1st, 2022, and December 15th, 2022, were collected. After data cleaning, 679 videos with over 1,000 views were analyzed. The results show that 373 TikTok videos contained hate speech, with 264 featuring ethnoreligious hate speech targeting non-Malays, particularly those of Chinese descent. Hate speech in Malay predominantly targeted non-Malays while Chinese language content focused on Malays and Islam. Emerging hashtags during the data collection period, including #13mei, #13mei1969, and #bangsamelayu, were used by Malay ultra-nationalists to spread anti-Chinese narratives, which also appeared in the hate speech content. Other types of hate speech found include gender and sexuality-targeted hate speech.