PETALING JAYA: A study by the Initiative to Promote Tolerance and Prevent Violence (Initiate My) has found that young men aged 18 to 20 are the most vulnerable to extremist content on social media.
Its project coordinator Hisham Muhaimi explained that people in this demographic possess the digital skills to create posts that bypass content moderation guidelines on platforms like TikTok and Telegram, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.
“Some of these posts don’t necessarily violate the guidelines or promote violence, but when viewed together – the message, music used, nuances – the content can be really dangerous,“ he was quoted as saying.
According to the study, young people can be swayed by far-right groups, who may exploit them to drive backward-looking actions in politics and public spaces.
The group observed a surge in extreme content during general elections, such as videos using imagery of a keris to allude to the May 13 racial riots. They also noticed an increase in xenophobic rhetoric towards the Rohingya community, especially recently.
“We see people drawing similarities between Malaysia and Palestine and saying that the Rohingya are the Israelis of Malaysia,“ Hisham said.
While acknowledging that Muslims may feel a moral and religious duty to support their peers, he added that this does not justify anti-minority sentiments on social media.
