Like me a lot? Foreign Facebook love revives claims Cambodia’s Hun Sen is using 'click farms' to boost his online popularity
Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly denied allegations his fans are purchased - but new analysis of his Facebook followers show many likes originate in countries notorious for hosting so-called click farms
With its regular live broadcasts, routine tirades and daily - often curiously intimate - photo posts, the Facebook page of Cambodian strongman Hun Sen has won a remarkable five million fans.
But a surge of “likes” from countries including India and the Philippines has reignited allegations that his digital adoration is purchased from so-called “click farms”.
The 64-year-old prime minister, a once self-confessed tech dinosaur who tolerates little dissent, has embraced Facebook with gusto in the last year after opponents used the platform to reach out to younger voters.
He has vowed to remain prime minister until he is 74 with the next elections due in 2018.
To do so he will need the support of Cambodia’s youth - a huge, tech-savvy demographic who voted in droves for the opposition at the last polls, wearied by the endemic corruption, rights abuses and political repression seen as the hallmarks of Hun Sen’s rule.
