The Ethics of Undisclosed Political Influencer Content on TikTok: A Case Study of Malaysia’s 15th General Election (GE15)

Author

Zhang Zihan, Mohd Haizra Hashim


Abstract

 TikTok has become a major site of political influence during the 15th Malaysian General Election (GE15) in November 2022 as the platform was used by political parties to influence the newly enfranchised six million voters under the Undi18 constitutional change. Although TikTok’s Global Policy for Government and Political Party Accounts banned political paid promotion, observed organic influencer content on TikTok could be coordinated with political parties without being revealed. Based on deontological, utilitarian, and virtue ethics, this paper contends that the undisclosed influencer political content on TikTok is a media-ethical issue as a system since it conceals the commercial or political party relationship under the guise of organic and genuine opinion. Findings of the study reveal that this kind of content breaches Kant’s obligation to tell the truth, causes net negative consequences to voters’ freedom and democratic conversation, and lacks the virtues of honesty and accountability for communicators in public. Lastly, the paper recommends the use of disclosure tag, platform review, and media literacy.


Keywords

media ethics; political influencers; TikTok; GE15; disclosure; deontology; utilitarianism; Malaysia



Full Text:

Download Paper PDF


References


Aristotle. (2000). Nicomachean Ethics (R. Crisp, Trans.). Cambridge University Press.

Bok, S. (1978). Lying: Moral choice in public and private life. Pantheon Books.

Borchers, N., & Enke, B. (2022). Ethical dimensions of influencer marketing: Transparency, authenticity, and responsibility. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 9(4), 312–328.

Christians, C. G., Fackler, M., & McKinnon, L. M. (2019). Media ethics: Cases and moral reasoning (12th ed.). Routledge.

Evans, N. J., Phua, J., Lim, J., & Junudo, H. (2017). Disclosing Instagram influencer advertising: The effects of disclosure language on advertising recognition, attitudes, and behavioral intent. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 17(2), 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2017.1366236

Lou, C., Tan, S.-S., & Chen, Y. (2023). Exploring social media influencers’ moral dilemmas through role theory. European Journal of Marketing, 57(12), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-04-2022-0281

Mill, J. S. (1863). Utilitarianism. Parker, Son, and Bourn.

Moody, M., & Reese, S. D. (2021). The political influencer: Social media and the transformation of political publicity. Political Communication, 38(6), 721–738.

Ooi, K. H. (2022, December 22). How political parties used TikTok in the 2022 Malaysian general election (RSIS Commentary No. 2022/133). S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University. https://www.rsis.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CO22133.pdf

SAYS. (2022, November 22). PDRM warns social media users after TikTok creators use 13 May incident to conjure hate. https://says.com/my/news/pdrm-warns-social-media-users-after-tiktok-creators-use-13-may-incident-to-conjure-hate

The Rakyat Post. (2022, November 3). TikTok won’t allow anyone, even politicians, to spread misinformation during GE15. https://therakyatpost.com/living/2022/11/03/tiktok-wont-allow-anyone-even-politicians-to-spread-misinformation-during-ge15

   

 

 

Share your valuable work from Social Media Buttons