KUALA LUMPUR: Authorities have no plans to take action against a news portal over a report claiming that fake accounts were created to boost Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s popularity on social media, says Teo Nie Ching.
The Deputy Communications Minister said this is based on Meta's response that it found no "abnormal activity" to suggest there was a campaign to bolster Anwar's approval rating artificially.
"If we were to take action, we would be accused of not respecting media freedom.
"While Meta did admit the existence of fake accounts, they are mostly used to promote scams.
"In this case, Meta said it found no abnormal activity, so I think we should accept this fact," she said in reply to a supplementary question from Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PN-Pasir Mas) during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Nov 12).
Ahmad Fadhli wanted to know whether or not the government would take any action against the portal for alleging that hundreds of accounts were set up to boost the popularity of the Prime Minister's Facebook page.
Meta operates popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Teo said the government will continue to respect press freedom even if it disagrees with some media reports critical of the ruling coalition.
"The Madani government's position, as repeatedly pointed out by the Prime Minister, is that we respect media freedom.
"If we disagree with some reports, we will state our disagreement, but this doesn't mean we need to summon them to record statements," she added.
The portal's report in late September had claimed that hundreds of accounts were involved in "coordinated inauthentic behaviour", or CIB, involving the Prime Minister's Facebook page.
