Adrian Delia Has Spent At Least €13,000 Of PN’s Money On His Personal Facebook Page
Adrian Delia could end up resigning as PN leader by the end of the year if the majority of the party’s executive has its way. However, the PN would have still spent at least €13,000 of the party’s money on his personal Facebook page.
Since March 2019, when Facebook started keeping a transparency register for sponsored posts, the PN has spent €13,262 promoting content uploaded directly on Delia’s personal page.
Over the last week, Delia has spent €123 of the PN’s money to promote eight videos uploaded to his page. This included interviews and addresses focused on the recent leadership crisis plaguing the party, like a post announcing that he will remain Opposition Leader and detailing why he should do so.
It has reaped benefits, with Delia currently enjoying 32,373 followers and 28,967 likes on his page, many of whom could have been drawn to the content through sponsored posts.
And the money could go down the drain. If Delia were to be ousted as PN leader over the next few weeks, the funds spent on building that reach will count for nothing. And what happens if Delia embarks on a new venture? That 28,000 could prove to be a useful start, helped by money straight from the PN’s pocket.
Lovin Malta recently reported how ministers misused taxpayer money and resources to grow their own personal Facebook pages, instead of building official ministry pages. The Standards Commissioner has flagged the issue, the government has agreed to adopt new social media guidelines, and the entire cabinet is now under criminal investigation.
The PN pounced on the issue back then, with Delia even writing to the Auditor General to kickstart an investigation into the matter. PN funds were also used to promote the post asking for the Auditor General investigation.
“I have urged the Auditor General to prioritise this investigation so that the Maltese public can get back the money that was spent so abusively,” Delia said then.
Some of the promoted posts during leadership crisis
According to the new rules imposed by the Standards Commissioner, content produced using taxpayer money should be released on official channels, such as the Facebook pages of a ministry. Once it is shared officially, ministers are free to re-share such content to their personal Facebook pages.
Delia is not using public funds but that of the PN. However, questions must be asked whether party funds should be focused on the party itself and official party channels.
It does not appear that any other major political figure in the PN benefits from this massive level of social media funding. The PN is yet to reply to questions sent on the funding and whether they see any difference between this issue and the one facing the cabinet.
The promoted post calling for Auditor General invetsigation
Meanwhile, more than 4,200 people have already signed a petition calling for an end to Facebook misuse by government officials and insisting that ministers should refund the taxpayer money they abused. The petition is part of a campaign launched by Lovin Malta’s show Kaxxaturi which also raised more than €6,000 and has already been seen watched by more than 315,000 people.
Do you think PN funds are being misused? Comment below
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