Cabinet members using taxpayers’ money to directly fund promotions on their personal social media pages rather than on official channels has been flagged by a European study of media pluralism and freedom.

A magisterial inquiry is now underway after a report by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler which found “widespread misuse of public resources” by ministers and parliamentary secretaries. Lovin Malta uncovered that at least €1.2 million has been spent on these ads. 

The Prime Minister is so far refusing to pass on new social media guidelines for cabinet members, while concerns remain that some are failing to follow the rules.

And whilst candidates tend to be scrutinised more in terms of campaign spending, political parties themselves only have their annual accounts, which are not detailed enough to determine the exact figures spent on campaign spending.

Moreover, with no regulations in place, there are no stipulated limits on politicians’ spending on social media advertisements.

Without such a legal framework for online advertising as found in other media channels such as TV and radio, there is no transparency in Malta’s allocation of state advertising or the ability to stop the state from excluding certain media houses or organisations from their advertising budget if they’re deemed too critical.

Because of this, subliminal messaging is also unavoidable.

Freedom and pluralism for Malta’s media were also flagged through the study as “high risk”, with Malta’s two party-owned media houses dominating the largest shares of audiences posing as a major contributing factor.

Moreover, the government’s appointment and influence of the public broadcaster’s board means TVM’s independence is questionable.

You can find the full report here. 

What do you make of the report?