Police Asks Facebook For Help In Identifying Fake Profiles Behind Harassment Onslaught Against Maltese Activist
The Cyber Crime police has formally asked Facebook to provide technical details that can lead to the prosecution of a group of people, including some using fake profiles, behind a recent onslaught of harassment against a young activist.
Tina Urso, from the protest group Il-Kenniesa, was viciously targeted on Facebook in April after she took part in a London protest against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Henley & Partners – the company behind the sale-of-citizenship scheme. A post falsely quoting her as saying she hated Malta, Labour and the Prime Minister’s family went viral amongst private Facebook groups, and people responded by flooding the activist’s Facebook page with derogatory comments, including some of a sexual nature, and by spreading personal details of her including her address and ID card.
The administrator of a private Facebook group encourages people to visit Tina Urso’s Facebook page
Valletta 2018 Artistic Director Mario Philip Azzopardi called Urso a bitch, but later apologised and said he had fallen victim to “fake news” when he read that quote.
The onslaught prompted Urso to file a police report against six profiles, both real and fake ones, for harassment, stalking and for causing her to fear that violence will be used against her – aggravated or motivated on the grounds of her political opinion.
The report, which includes screenshots of comments that have since been deleted, was forwarded to the Cyber Crime police.
A police spokesperson confirmed with Lovin Malta that the Cyber Crime police are investigating the report and Urso’s lawyer confirmed the police have informed her the details of the Facebook profiles have been passed on to the social media giant for analysis – including to help identify the people behind the fake profiles.
This case is the latest in a long line of cases in Malta which show that Facebook comments can have serious consequences in court.
Three people were recently charged with inciting violence against the police force on the basis a few derogatory Facebook comments and were denied bail for eleven days, with magistrate Joe Mifsud arguing he wanted to “send a signal to society” that people shouldn’t mock the police.
Two elderly people were separately charged for posting threatening comments against PN MEPs Roberta Metsola and David Casa, while sergeant Ramon Mifsud was suspended from the police force for posting a Facebook status which celebrated the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Facebook data for 2016 show that Maltese authorities made the highest number of requests for user information, per capita. for its citizens than any other country in the world.
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