At least 13 Maltese ministries will need to create their official Facebook pages after the Standards Commissioner discovered that the majority of Ministers were using their personal pages to produce and boost promotional content, sometimes with the help of public funds and resources.

Following a request from Lovin Malta, Commissioner for Standards in Public Life George Hyzler recently published a report which flagged the rampant use of public funds and resources to produce content specifically for ministers’ personal Facebook pages. In some instances, the content would be boosted on their pages to reach a wider audience.

A 2018 analysis by Lovin Malta revealed that millions in taxpayers’ money were being paid to Facebook to ensure posts on ministers’ profiles reach as many people as possible.

The issued raised questions as to whether public funds and resources were being used in the public interest or for personal and political gain.

Only the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry for Education and Employment, the Ministry for Energy and Water Management, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion had active Facebook accounts. 

The Ministry for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity’s page was inactive.

When it came to Twitter, only the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry for Education and Employment, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion had active accounts.

The Ministry for Education and Employment had the most comprehensive ministerial social media policy, Hyzler said. He explained that the ministry had set out clear terms and conditions of its use which aimed to ensure respect and avoid abuse.

Hyzler explained that Ministers are more likely to use their personal pages to meet social media users’ expectations to interact with “real” identifiable people.

“Political leaders have a direct personal incentive to exploit social media they can reap tangible returns in terms of influence, funds, support, and votes,” he said.

During the Commissioner’s investigation, the government agreed to abide by a new set of standards whereby public funds and resources can only be used on official ministry social media pages and not on the personal pages of the individual ministers.

The Maltese Institute of Journalists (IĠM) has suggested that Ministers and parliamentary secretaries who used public funds to promote posts on their personal pages should return the money to the state and be used to support the press.

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