Bernard Grech is the latest target of a widespread disinformation campaign, with the Opposition leader saying fake emails which purport to be sent by him are in circulation.
The head of the Nationalist Party is the latest in a series of false emails and fraudulent websites being circulated in recent days. The fake emails concerning Grech feature a made-up conversation between himself and PN MP Jason Azzopardi.
Azzopardi, blogger Manuel Delia, NGO Repubblika and news sites Newsbook, Net News, LovinMalta and TVM have all been targeted using fake email chains and spoofed websites.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has also been targeted, he revealed on Monday, with fake emails using his name sent on August 15.
The fraudulent websites all appear to be sowing doubt in the prosecution against Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech and attacking the credibility of some of his most vocal critics.
'Anti-democratic tactics'
“After cloning news websites to deliberately spread fake news, the perpetrators are now specifically trying to damage the Opposition,” Grech said in a short statement.
“These are dangerous anti-democratic tactics. We cannot allow them to go unpunished. We cannot accept to strengthen the culture of impunity that led to the murder of a journalist.”
He added that the police’s cybercrime unit needed to be beefed up and that the Government and Opposition needed to meet on the matter urgently to make sure laws are strengthened before the upcoming election. He also urged Prime Minister Robert Abela to break his silence on the issue.
“Silence is complicity. We will not remain silent,” he said.
The president of civil society group Repubblika Robert Aquilina and Manuel Delia have both been promised police protection after Aquilina said he had been warned by a Labour politician concerned for his safety to “be careful”.
In an opinion piece, Delia also expressed concerns for his safety, saying he will soon be unable afford the time, the cost or the energy it takes to calm his family’s frayed nerves about whether this electronic violence could turn physical at some point.