Minister accused of buying FB likes from “click farms” for Cambodia Prime Minister, Facebook war goes to court

Minister accused of buying FB likes from “click farms” for Cambodia Prime Minister, Facebook war goes to court

Lawyer Herald | 15 March 2016

Cambodia Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen Official Facebook Page(Photo : Facebook)

Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy Facebook page(Photo : Facebook)

Cambodia Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen has recently embraced the social media. He refers to it as a medium that brings him closer to the people of the nation.

Hun Sen's page has been harvesting likes after owning up the page that bears his name. He eventually overtook Rainsy's  2.2 Million page likes with his overwhelming 3.2 Million likes. Hun Sen posted, "Facebook has brought me closer to people and allowed me to listen and receive more requests directly from them." He brought up the post in his facebook page after reaching the 3 million mark for number of likes.

However, recently, Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy, who is in exile abroad, drops an accusation regarding fake accounts that originate overseas, which are allegedly among Hun Sen's facebook page likers. Fake accounts are often born in "click farms" where willing individuals are paid to create multiple "ghost" accounts and offer likes to various pages.

BBC News reported that Rainsy also accused government ministers of pressuring members of the ruling party, Cambodian People's Party (CCP), to like Hun Sen's facebook page.

Rainsy posted a message which he claims to be from Undersecretry of State, Hak Sokmakara. Sokmakara, allegedly directed Som Soeun, a government minister, to campaign the Prime Minister's facebook page and gain likes from Party members.

In a news released by Cambodia Daily, the message from the undersecretary reportedly prompts the members of the CCP to unlike Rainsy's facebook page. The message also reads, "Executives at all party levels must constantly monitor the execution of this work at the grassroots levels as part of a broad campaign to secure victory at the elections."

Soeun did not deny instructing the party members to like Sen's page, however, he refuses to recognize buying likes from "click farms" as accused by Opposition Head.

In light of the accusations thrown by Rainsy, Soeun answers with a $5000 lawsuit against him, alleging him of spreading lies and "twisting the truth." Soeun told the Cambodia Daily, "The additional comment is false and it affects my name and affects the honor of the leader. I am a party member; I have to protect my leader and expose His Excellency Sam Rainsy's cheap act, which is opposite to the truth."

Phnom Penh Post released a research, stating that only 20% of the Prime Minister's likes are from Cambodia. This means that 80% of the likes are from the overseas. Most of these are from the India and the Philippines. This initially brought up the issue that questioned the legitimacy of the said likes.

"Click farms" and fake accounts are not new to facebook. In fact, republican frontrunner and Presidential Bid, Donald Trump, also faced the issue of harboring fake account likes.