Department of Information worked with Vatis to block accounts - DINFO

The Department of Information confirms they had worked with Vatis under the previous government to block social media accounts that violated its community engagement policy.

Several social media account holders who were blocked from accessing Fijian Government social media platforms are now reporting that they have been unblocked since the new government has taken office.

A Facebook user says she was blocked by the Fijian Government Facebook page in December when the announcement for the new Permanent Secretaries was made and was unblocked soon after the Coalition Government came into office.

She says she had commented about the appointment of a particular Permanent Secretary, however, her comment was deleted.

The user says she commented several times and thought an error was occurring as her comment kept getting deleted.

Other Twitter and Facebook users have also expressed online that they have now been unblocked and are relieved to be able to see important news and announcements on the Government’s social media pages, and make comments on the posts.

When we questioned the Department of Information, it says accounts were blocked for fake profiles, bad actors and profiles found to be harassing genuine users, disseminating misleading information, running outright scams, attempting to inflict financial and material harm on the Fijian people, and violating the spirit of the Public Order Act, which prohibits malicious acts, incitement to violence and disobedience, racial antagonism, and the sabotaging of the economy or financial integrity of Fiji.

The Department says when these violations occur, they at that time had worked with public relations company, Vatis to block these accounts.

They say since the termination of the social media management firm Vatis in January this year, the Department of Information sought to implement a “Blocked_Profile_Register” which captures and records details of the infringements for enhanced transparency.

Vatis’ contract has been terminated by the coalition government.

It’s Director, Arnold Chanel has not responded to our questions since last month.

Chanel was also part of the FijiFirst Party Campaign Team prior to the 2018 general elections.

We have asked the Department of Information and the Ministry of Finance to confirm what is the progress on the investigation into Vatis, what was the role of Vatis within the Department of Information and how many ministries were they working for, how much tax dollars were they getting paid, did they all go through a tender process, when was Vatis contracted and what was their role.

We are awaiting their response.