27/01/2026

TUESDAY | JAN 27, 2026

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Likes, views do not signal credibility: Users PETALING JAYA: High likes, views and comments on social media no longer guarantee credibility, with online users increasingly viewing them as signs that content may have been artificially boosted. IT manager Md Saiful Azri, 42, from Bangi, Selangor, said today’s large engagement numbers often reflect marketing budgets rather than genuine popularity. “These days, a high like count usually just tells me someone has a big marketing budget or knows how to game the algorithm. Back in the day, a viral video felt like a genuine moment. “Now it feels manufactured. I look more at who is saying it and whether the comments actually have substance.” Saiful added that artificially boosted posts are often easy to spot. “When the math doesn’t add up – like 50,000 likes but only three people talking – it feels dead. If the profiles are blank or the usernames look weird, it’s a giveaway. Real people are messy. A wall of ‘Great post!’ and heart emojis is almost certainly bot-driven.” Human resources consultant Afiq Afendi, 32, from TTDI, Kuala Lumpur, said engagement should never be mistaken for credibility. “Credibility should come from accurate and unbiased information. Likes and views only show preference, not truth,” he said, noting that fabricated engagement often follows identifiable patterns. “You see templates being repeated in a very short time. It usually stays on the surface of a topic, not in depth.” Public relations executive Deena Azuar, 27, said she now treats engagement as a reference point rather than proof. “I used to assume high engagement meant something was good or trustworthy. But now, with how easy it is to buy engagement, I don’t rely on it. “Sometimes there are thousands of likes but the comments feel copy pasted. When that happens, I trust the brand or person less.” Talent acquisition executive Low Yee Dan, 26, from Setia Alam, Selangor, said popularity alone has never equated credibility for him. “A popularised view, even if it’s not artificially boosted, still doesn’t equal credibility. “I’ve seen posts where the gap between likes and comments feels suspicious,” he said, adding that paid engagement is “essentially no different from paid marketing”. For government pensioner Nik Ruzman, 65, from Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, recent global events have changed how he reads online reactions. “I never thought about this before but not anymore since the Gaza-Israel conflict,” he said, referring to widely reported cases of coordinated and artificial engagement linked to Israel related posts during the war. He said comment patterns differ sharply between platforms and channels. “I don’t decide based on positive comments. I research the product myself, but I do pay attention to negative comments.”– By Faiz Ruzman

‘Click farming thriving in M’sia’s legal grey area’

o Experts say regulatory ambiguities around engagement-boosting services have enabled scams, online manipulation and digital fraud

management said spending on digital engagement is commonly built into campaign planning and treated as a legitimate visibility tool. “In most campaigns, engagement is discussed early on, alongside content and media planning. It’s not something that comes later. It’s already part of the strategy. “(High) traction has become a form of credibility. The huge numbers of likes, views or comments are often used to show that a campaign is performing well.” He said budgets for engagement related spending vary by campaign, with some allocating several thousand ringgit and others reaching up to RM15,000. “Engagement usually comes through third-party vendors offering likes, views or comments as part of a broader campaign package, sometimes layered on top of platform ads. “It’s usually tied to visibility goals such as boosting reach, making posts look active early on or helping content gain momentum. Clients don’t usually ask which vendor is used or how engagement is generated. What they want to see is movement – likes, views, comments – that shows traction.” He added that there is little industry concern over enforcement, as click-farm-style engagement is widely viewed as operating within platform rules or regulatory grey areas.

specialist Prof Dr Ainuddin Wahid Abdul Wahab said the normalisation of click farm services had enabled large-scale fraud and expanded cybercrime infrastructure globally. “Bot fraud now accounts for about 65% of connected TV (CTV) fraud globally, potentially wasting around US$700,000 (RM2.8 million) for every one billion impressions,” he said, citing DoubleVerify’s 2025 Global Insights report. From a cybersecurity standpoint, he said click farms rely heavily on automation, bot orchestration and compromised or fabricated accounts, significantly increasing exposure to phishing and identity theft. “Click farms do not create content or narratives. They amplify whoever pays. Scammers use them to ‘warm up’ fraudulent pages with fake testimonials so that victims see what looks like social proof. “Once fake engagement becomes normalised, it becomes a tool for ‘astroturfing’ (the deceptive practice of presenting an orchestrated marketing or public relations campaign) which manufactures popularity to influence consumer behaviour and public opinion.” Despite the risks, industry practitioners say artificially boosted engagement has become a routine part of campaign strategy. An industry source familiar with multinational campaign

Ű BY FAIZ RUZMAN newsdesk@thesundaily.com

register them under other people’s names or use fake identities. “To run a click farm, you need a phone farm connected to software on a computer. One computer can control hundreds or even thousands of phones. Each phone can have multiple social media accounts.” He said such systems allow operators to generate vast volumes of engagement with minimal effort. “With one click, someone can generate 1,000 likes on a post. They can also instruct bots to leave comments using AI-generated text. It looks real and triggers the platform’s algorithm.” Sirajuddin warned that artificial engagement creates a false impression of popularity or credibility, shaping how users perceive online content. “When people bypass official advertising platforms and instead pay click-farm services, it becomes a risk not just to users, but to the platforms themselves. More importantly, this infrastructure is often reused for scams.” Universiti Malaya cybersecurity

PETALING JAYA: The booming trade in paid “click farming” services to artificially inflate likes, views and comments on social media is operating in a legal grey zone in Malaysia, with experts highlighting that the same engagement-boosting infrastructure is increasingly being repurposed for scams, fraud and online manipulation. Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association president Sirajuddin Jalil said click-farming operations rely on large-scale automation using so called “phone farms”, enabling a single operator to control hundreds or even thousands of mobile devices at the same time. “At the moment, regulations do not directly address click farming. There is no law that limits how many mobile phones a person can own. However, there are laws that limit SIM card ownership. “For example, if someone has five prepaid SIM cards, that is already illegal because they would have to Communications Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching said the initiative is currently in the regulatory sandbox phase, allowing the government to test and refine the most effective implementation methods before full enforcement. She said the measure is being carried out in line with the Online Safety Act (Onsa), with discussions already underway with social media platform providers to determine the most suitable approach. “Under Onsa, we have begun discussions with platform providers. We are now in the regulatory sandbox stage to identify the best, most effective and safest way to conduct age verification. We are still in the discussion and planning phase with the platform providers. “This is our target for this year. As was announced by Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil, we expect it to be implemented in the second half of the year,“ she said when met after the handing over ceremony of the Early Schooling Assistance at Sekolah Kebangsaan Putra Utama here yesterday. The government is reportedly targeting all social media platforms to implement digital user identity

Age limit for social media use effective by July: Deputy minister KULAI: The implementation of a minimum age limit of 16 for social media use, aimed at protecting children and adolescents from exploitation and exposure to inappropriate online content, is expected to be enforced as early as July.

SCREEN SAFETY ... Young users on mobile devices. Teo said the age verification measures for social media use are currently being tested to protect minors from online harm and inappropriate content. – BERNAMAPIC

for the Early Schooling Assistance this year for some 5.2 million students from Year 1 to Form 6 nationwide. Teo, who is Kulai MP, said 586,153 students received assistance, involving a total allocation of RM87.9 million in Johor. – Bernama

receive confirmation from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on whether any complaints had been lodged regarding the matter. Meanwhile, Teo said the Education Ministry has allocated RM800 million

verification (eKYC) by the end of the second quarter (this year) to enforce the minimum age requirement for account registration. Asked about cyberbullying involving national badminton player Toh Ee Wei, Teo said she had yet to