Photo: Reuters
PETALING JAYA: Malaysiakini has claimed that its English Facebook page and the personal account of at least one of its administrators were suspended on Tuesday (Sept 30).
According to MalaysiaKini, Meta, Facebook's parent company, issued a statement indicating that the Malaysiakini account violated its community guidelines regarding cybersecurity.
The notification from Meta stated, "Our technology found that your page does not comply with our community standards. As a result, our technology has taken action," it said in a news report on Tuesday.
Meta's guidelines prohibit the collection of sensitive information from others, such as accessing accounts without permission or using phishing tactics.
In response, Malaysiakini said its report relied solely on publicly available information.
"Before publishing the report, Malaysiakini sought an official response from Meta, providing a 12-page document detailing the network's operations and case studies of 13 high-profile members.
"A Meta spokesperson reportedly told Malaysiakini that it found no evidence of coordinated inauthentic behaviour on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Facebook page."
Malaysiakini noted that the portal and KiniTV have appealed to Meta regarding the suspension of their social media accounts, while its Malay-language Facebook page, which shares links to reports in Bahasa Malaysia, remains unaffected.
The suspension reportedly occurred shortly after the portal published a report alleging that a network artificially boosted support for Anwar on his official Facebook page.
This investigation followed an earlier incident two years ago when Meta dismantled a separate network of 600 accounts engaged in pro-government manipulation linked to the Police.
The Prime Minister's Office has denied any knowledge or involvement with the network, stating there was no basis or need to direct the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to investigate.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) also emphasised that no public funds were used, and neither the government nor party leadership had issued directives or funding for such operations.
Instead, the PMO attributed the activities to individuals exercising their freedom of expression.
It was also reported that following Malaysiakini's inquiries, a significant portion of the network was dismantled, with at least 76 of the 263 accounts deleted or deactivated, including 11 of the 13 high-profile accounts flagged in the documents sent to Meta.
