PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has received an earful for his “thunderous silence” over an allegation that a pro-Government “troll farm” has links to the Royal Malaysian Police Force (PDRM).
The claim was made by Facebook parent company and tech giant Meta Platforms Inc yesterday (Aug 5) in its Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report.
In the report, Meta said 596 Facebook accounts, 180 pages, 11 groups and 72 Instagram accounts were removed for violating the platforms’ policy against “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” (CIB) – aimed at corrupting or manipulating public discourse through misleading posts.
It said this network was active on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, posting memes in Malay that were in support of the current Government coalition and the police, while alleging corruption among its critics, including the opposition.
“Although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identity and coordination, our investigation found links to the Royal Malaysia Police,” Meta said.
DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said Ismail’s silence was “most ominous”.
“Instead of launching a cyber warfare against its own citizens, the Government should be protecting Malaysians from cyber warfare by irresponsible and unethical cyber troopers paid by those flushed with ill-gotten funds from financial scandals,” the Iskandar Puteri MP added.
In a statement today, Lim said it is “no credit whatsoever” that Malaysia was listed with seven other countries for cyberwarfare, cyber espionage and CIB in cyberspace, as stipulated in Meta’s report.
“What is the Ismail Sabri Government doing to ensure that Malaysia is not listed as a defaulting nation in the next Meta Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report?” he further asked.
“A bad name”
Similarly, DAP social media bureau chairman Syahredzan Johan demanded a detailed explanation from the Government on the Meta report claims, saying they give public agencies a bad name if they were true.
“Although these accounts… have been identified and taken down by Meta, the report shows that the Government paid trolls and cyber troopers, using public funds and resources, for their own political interests,” he said in a separate statement.
Public agencies and bodies which serve all Malaysians should not be used for such political purposes, Syahredzan pointed out.
“It won’t be far-fetched to conclude that there are other accounts and sites across various social media platforms that carry out the same activities,” he added.
Meanwhile, PKR information chief Fahmi Fadzil said there were grounds for Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to investigate the matter, and expressed confidence it would be raised in the Dewan Rakyat’s next sitting in October.
Fahmi, however, does not believe the allegations made by Meta are true, with Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reporting him as saying PDRM would never be involved in such a “wild exercise”.
“If it is (true), the subsequent question is where is the budget coming from? Are they using taxpayers’ money? Is this something that has been approved by Parliament? Is this something which is allowed by law?”
PDRM secretary DCP Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin has since denied Meta’s claim that the social media accounts were linked to the police force.
Nevertheless, the police view the allegation seriously and they are getting more information about the matter, she said late last night. – Aug 6, 2022
Pic credit: StudyFinds
