Clickbait or Fake News? Second Case of Fake “Malaysia Kini” Sponsored Content

This is the screenshot of the advertisement appears on the timeline of another Facebook user.

Within 24 hours, there is another case of using the portrait of Lim Guan Eng, the former Finance Minister of Malaysia, on clickbait news. Ironically, the page that sponsors the ads uses Italian instead of English or other more often used languages in Malaysia.

A friend of mine alerted this case to me and it looks so suspiciously as a clickbait link. It again uses Lim Guan Eng’s photo in the sponsored content with a title reads “

The Biggest Scandal that Ever Hits The News Channel”. The link shows users will be directed to “MKnews” Instagram account.

The page in Italian has fewer likes and followers compare to the page I researched yesterday.

“Un viaggio a Malacca” (A trip to Malacca) is the page behind the sponsored post. Likewise, it doesn’t post the link or the advertised content on its timeline at all since its foundation on March 2, 2020. The page has lesser follower and like numbers (1583 and 1577 respectively) compare to the case I wrote yesterday though both are founded on same day.

It has eight (8) advertisements for the time being. All are the same content while half of them direct user to Instagram page with “South Africa” label and another half bring user to Instagram account @tasteofbelgium.

The link that redirecting users are two different instagram account and pages.

Fake news industry is growing rapidly and it spreads hatred and disinformation to confuse people. To stay clear from it, we need to enhance ourselves with media literacy.

Do click on the button “page transparency” on the home page of every suspicious page. It can show you the owner of the page, number of admins and their current locations, advertisement activity and so on.

Be a smart audience, don’t be a victim of fake news.