Coordinated social media campaign to discredit the administration

Oct 04, 2018 News

President David Granger

– Ministry of the Presidency says fictitious Facebook articles posted

The Ministry of the Presidency (MotP) says it is rejecting the malicious and wicked publishing of false articles relating to President David Granger on various social media forums, in what appears to be a campaign aimed at besmirching his character and reputation of the Government and its representatives.
“The Ministry has noted that a Facebook Page has been established under the name, ‘Brigadier David Granger’, which is reporting that the President has intervened in a recent matter involving the Mayor of Bartica, Mr. Gifford Marshall and a young woman of the same community. The site also purports to quote the President from a recent interview conducted.”
The Ministry said that it wants to categorically state that no such interview was conducted with or any such remarks made by the President.
“The Ministry, in the strongest possible terms therefore, condemns and rejects these articles as a wicked falsification. The Ministry is therefore calling on all right-thinking Guyanese, particularly the Media corps, to be aware of the campaign being executed and advises citizens not to be taken in by the daily inundation of untruths, mischief and falsehoods, which have been emanating from the various Social Media platforms.”
The Ministry said that while the Government of Guyana respects the fundamental right of its citizens to freedom of speech, as well as press freedom, it condemns, in the strongest possible way, any impeachments.
“The publishing of untruths, propaganda and misleading information should not be considered a joke or a prank. It is a serious act designed to mislead, create panic and division among the citizens. It must be noted that the spreading of fake news appears to be an ongoing global problem as social media giant, Facebook, in 2016, had cause to announce that it will be putting systems in place to ensure that fake news pages are carefully monitored on its platform.”