DAP lawmaker Gobind Singh Deo today questioned Attorney-General Idrus Harun about the impropriety of the police in conducting an investigation on themselves.  

The DAP national deputy chairman was referring to the allegation that the police were linked to a troll farm promoting the government and criticising its detractors. The issue was revealed by Meta in its Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report. 

“While we welcome a probe into the matter, the question is whether it is proper for the police to investigate matters in which they themselves are said to be involved. 

“It is also perhaps important to ask if there is a delay in the investigation and if so whether it has to do with an internal probe which may be contaminated with conflict. 

“It is also important to note that PDRM has already denied the allegation even before the probe was completed. Would there not in these circumstances be a conflict on the part of PDRM to probe the matter?” Gobind asked. 

The Puchong MP added that the attorney-general must set matters straight and direct an independent probe into the allegations. 

A troll farm or factory is an entity spreading disinformation propaganda on the internet. 

Its activity is often concealed under an inconspicuous name such as a public relations agency or internet research centre. 

Troll factories usually focus on the political or economic sphere. 

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, revealed in August that it had removed from its social media platforms hundreds of fake accounts, pages, and groups linked to a troll farm in Malaysia. 

Its report mentioned that the perpetrators of those accounts, pages, and groups used deceit to influence public discourse in the form of “inauthentic behaviour” which it described as “an effort to mislead people or Facebook about the popularity of content, the purpose of a community or the identity of the people behind it, primarily centred around amplifying and increasing the distribution of content, and is often (but not exclusively) financially motivated.” 

“Typically, their posting activity accelerated during weekdays, taking breaks for lunch. Their fake accounts were fairly under-developed and some of them used stolen profile pictures,” said the report. 

The report added that about 427,000 FB accounts followed one or more of these pages, around 4,000 accounts joined one or more of these groups, and about 15,000 accounts followed one or more of the Instagram accounts that were detected. 

It said that up to US$6,000 (about RM26,740) was spent for ads on Facebook and Instagram, which was paid for primarily in ringgit.

“Although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identity and coordination, our investigation found links to the Royal Malaysia Police,” the report said. 

Meta added that its report provided insight into threats that the social media giant had tackled globally, including in Malaysia, Russia, Israel, Pakistan, India, South Africa, Greece, and the Philippines. 

Police secretary Noorsiah Saaduddin had previously said that there were no troll farms linked to Malaysian law enforcers as alleged by Meta. 

Gobind urged the police to show integrity and make the probe public as the matter was of public interest. 

“It would be best if any such probe also be made public so as to enhance its transparency and credibility,” he said. – September 18, 2022.