A full audit is necessary to establish how much public funds and resources were misused by ministers and parliamentary secretaries on their personal social media profiles over the years, the NGO Repubblika has said.

In a letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela, Repubblika referred to a recent report by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler, which found widespread misuse of public funds and resources on the personal Facebook pages of ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

“We are convinced that this is something extremely serious in a democratic country, which cannot be allowed to continue as though it were business as usual,” Repubblika wrote.

“We therefore call on you to ask the National Audit Office to investigate the use of public funds by Cabinet members on self-promotion on social media in recent years.”

“Between March 2013 and September 2017, the government spent over €1 million on social media ads.”

Repubblika said all funds that were misused on social posts should be returned to the public.