Facebook representatives met with the Kingdom’s anti-cybercrime department on Friday to foster cooperation in the fight against fake news.

The talks were held between Facebook’s public policy representative for Cambodia and Laos, based in Singapore, and Ministry of Interior anti-cybercrime department director Chea Pov.

Pov was unavailable for comment but Anti-Cybercrime department said in a post on the site that the meeting focused on three topics.

“Firstly, to understand the situation of Facebook users in Cambodia; secondly, to cooperate between Facebook and the anti-cybercrime department in fighting against the sharing of fake news, which affects national and social security."

“Thirdly, to strengthen cooperation between Facebook and the anti-cybercrime department in order to prevent any crimes occurring on Facebook,” it said.

Ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak could not be reached for comment. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said he did not have details of the meeting but Cambodia was committed to fighting fake news that made people lose trust in the government.

He stressed that the government would take thorough measures.

“The stance of the government is to tackle fake news in the public interest. And secondly, [fighting] fake news serves to protect the freedom to post correctly online,” he said.

Siphan said Cambodia respects access to information, which forms the basis of the freedom to share and publish news.

However, he said that Cambodia was angered by organised criminals and terrorist groups that had an agenda to cause public disorder. He said Cambodia would “not excuse” such groups.

“Where a [Facebook] post was from, who posted it – that information can be tracked by our technical team. No matter where they are, they will be found and legal action will be taken against them at all levels.

“We have provided freedom of speech for 20 years, even when it has been wrongly expressed and in an immoral manner. But now we will start to implement the law,” Siphan said.