Meta Suspends Mkini S Accounts Following Expos On Cybertroopers

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(Editor's note: Malaysiakini’s Facebook pages, including KiniTV, were briefly suspended earlier today after Meta alleged a breach of its community standards. This was shortly after we published our exposé on a network of ‘cybertroopers’ boosting Anwar’s Facebook support. The pages are back online.)
Several of Malaysiakini and KiniTV’s accounts on Facebook - and the personal account of at least one of its administrators - have been suspended today.
The news portals began receiving the suspension notice at around 5.40pm, less than two hours after it exposed a network of at least 263 accounts artificially boosting support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on his own Facebook page.
It is unclear whether the suspension is linked to the exposé.
ADSThe notice claimed the news portals have violated Meta’s community guidelines on cybersecurity.
“Our technology found that your page doesn't follow our community standards.
“As a result, our technology took action,” the notice read.
It added that its rules on cybersecurity ban people from “gathering sensitive information from others”, such as accessing someone else’s account with or without permission, or using phishing tactics to get someone’s login information.
It should be noted that Malaysiakini’s investigation relied solely on publicly visible information.
Prior to the publication of the report, Malaysiakini also approached Meta for a formal response to its findings, including a 12-page dossier detailing the network’s workings and a case study of 13 high-profile members.
In response, a spokesperson told Malaysiakini that Meta has found no evidence of coordinated inauthentic behaviour on Anwar’s Facebook page.
Malaysiakini and KiniTV are appealing the suspensions. - Mkini

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