Cambodian PM Accused of Buying Facebook Popularity

PHNOM PENH—

Cambodia's ruling party spokesman has dismissed a report suggesting Prime Minister Hun Sen artificially inflated the number of "likes" on his Facebook page, but observers say the claim that he may have paid for his online popularity is damaging.

Just days ago, Hun Sen announced he had reached 3 million likes on the renowned social-media platform, joking that his popularity made him "the Facebook Prime Minister." While he joined Facebook only some six months ago, he appeared to have overtaken opposition leader Sam Rainsy's 2.2 million likes. Rainsy has been on Facebook for at least five years.

However, in a Wednesday report citing figures from media analytics company socialbakers.com, The Phnom Penh Post newspaper said that only about 20 percent of Hun Sen's recently added fans were Cambodia-based users.

Many of the likes came from countries whose citizens would have little reason to support Cambodia's long-term ruler. The report also said a great number of likes posted in the past 30 days came from India, the Philippines, Burma, Indonesia, Turkey and Mexico, raising the possibility that the prime minister had been buying his popularity on the site.

‘Likes’ vs. popularity

Chok Sopheap, executive director at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said she was "surprised" by the report, adding that it raises concerns about the transparency of Facebook's "likes" function, which has been used by Cambodian politicians to compete for popularity.

source: http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodian-prime-minister-accused-buying-facebook-popularity/3228005.html