Attempts to con people into believing fabricated stories through the use of mirror news portals, fake email accounts or blogs is a very serious threat to democracy in Malta. The matter becomes even more serious when there are indications it could be part of a plan to influence, if not manipulate public opinion a few months before a general election. Who has the interest to start pulling the strings on such very sensitive decisions?

Though fake news is no new phenomenon, this time we are faced by an unprecedented drive to instil doubts and shape public opinion through unverified claims on very serious matters such as court proceedings in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case.

The escalation of the fake news media campaign comprises the illegal use of the identity of third parties such as journalists, politicians, public figures and civil society organisations. Moreover, this content is being presented as if it were uploaded by reputable news portals, political parties or organisations, once again in breach of the law, this time regulating intellectual properties – something which is technically known as website spoofing. 

So far, these attacks have targeted critics of murder suspect Yorgen Fenech, MP Jason Azzopardi, blogger Manuel Delia and even Opposition leader Bernard Grech. Fenech has denied any involvement whatsoever.

Faced by growing pressure to act, Prime Minister Robert Abela broke his silence saying he had also been targeted earlier this month through fake emails while announcing he had instructed the National Cyber Crime Committee to look into the matter and to draft proposals to counter such activity. The belated course of action once again raises questions. Should entities tasked to safeguard online security and law enforcement have to be summoned by the Prime Minister to step up the course of action? Why is it that every time there is a serious threat the Prime Minister feels the necessity to instruct the police commissioner to investigate? Are not these watchdogs meant to be pro-active rather than wait for the political go-ahead?

Meanwhile, the appeal to our readers is to be very vigilant. Be it a financial scam, a suspicious text message or email, or a sensational news story we urge caution. More often than not if something is too good to be true, or if it is too shocking, alarm bells should start ringing. Experts say that the best way to recognise a genuine website or email is through the address. If there is a slight variation such as replacing .com by something else like .one the website is fake.

Though law enforcement authorities are also working to crackdown on the culprits, this is an arduous task as more often than not the identity of those behind these websites remains unknown and they are based in foreign countries.  The fight becomes even harder if such attacks become the norm and nobody is ever prosecuted. Anyone remembers the fake Simon Busuttil website in 2017 or the fake MaltaToday website carrying an article on Keith Schembri? It would be more than welcome for the authorities to explain what action was taken in this regard.  

So far, these attacks have had political ramifications but this is not the end of the story. A sustained attack by spoof websites, fake news and email scams can start hurting national security, the economy and ultimately threaten our jobs. If authorities lose control of the situation sensitive data pertaining to serious matters such as tax records, court documents and criminal investigation files could be in jeopardy. On the economic front Malta’s reputation would also suffer as the prospect of having to face continuous cyber attacks would put off investors and ultimately jobs. There is definitely more at stake by these attacks, apart from the political bickering.