Ng Kok Song, the 75-year-old Presidential hopeful and stalwart of GIC, has been in the news for numbers recently.
After the first prize for the 4D draw on 2 August 2023 featured a combination of his age and his fiancee’s, Ng jumped on the opportunity by offering more 4D numbers to the press during a doorstop interview the next day. These new numbers relate to the vote split that Ng hopes for come polling day (on the assumption that it is a 2-horse race).
Ng (half-jokingly?) told his supporters to “bet big” on these numbers on polling day, and added that they should support him in the election to make sure they win their “bets“.
The relevant excerpt from his doorstop is appended below.
@ratemymp I bet the numbers are going to sell out #tiktoksg #sgtiktok #sgfyp #tiktokfyp #ratemymp #tiktoksofsg #singapore #singaporetiktok #sgpolitics #sgparliament #singaporepolitics #singaporeparliament #ngkoksong #ngkoksong2023 #sgpresidentialelection2023 #sgpresidentialelection #sgpresident #singaporepools #4D
While it remains to be seen if any of the “very good numbers” will make punters rich, it appears that Ng has once again found himself in the news in relation to numbers.
This time, it isn’t about the lottery but the artificial inflation of his Instagram followers.
Allegations of Inflating Instagram Followers
The following screenshots and numbers were brought to Wake Up Singapore’s attention:-
- On 21 July 2023, Ng’s Instagram page had approximately 784 followers;
- On 22 July 2023, Ng’s followers increased more than five times to approximately 3930 followers;
- Later that same day, his Instagram account was made private;
- When the account was made public again, Ng’s following decreased to approximately 994 followers.
We were also informed that comments calling out this sudden inflation of followers were allegedly promptly deleted by the moderators of Ng’s Instagram page.
One such comment which was not deleted at the material time when Ng’s Tik Tok profile was accessed was made by TikTok user Jaime.tan, who raised queries about the sudden inflation of Instagram followers.
Ng’s media team explains what happened
Ng’s media team, which includes Gushcloud International, told Wake Up Singapore that they believed that “a third-party internet service was used to artificially inflate” Ng’s Instagram following.
While they were unable to pinpoint a source, they made it clear that neither Ng nor the media team authorised the purchase of fake followers.
When Ng’s media team inspected the “sudden increase” of followers on 22 July 2023, it became clear that a large proportion of the new followers were “inauthentic accounts or fake followers”.
Thereafter, Ng’s media team took “immediate action to remove and block” the said fake followers. The privacy setting of Ng’s Instagram page was changed from public to private during the manual checking process “to prevent new fake followers from being added to the count.” This process of manual checking lasted several hours.
In response to Wake Up Singapore’s query about the deletion of comments which called out the artificial inflation, Ng’s media team said “Comments from the fake followers were also deleted.”
On 22 July 2023, we noticed a sudden increase in the number of followers on the @ngkoksong.official Instagram account. Upon checking, it became clear that a large proportion of the new followers were inauthentic accounts or “fake followers”.
We took immediate action to remove and block these fake followers. This process took several hours of manual checks. The account remained private during this period to prevent new fake followers from being added to the count. Comments from the fake followers were also deleted.
Mr Ng and the team did not authorise the purchase of fake followers.
We believe a third-party internet service was used to artificially inflate the number of followers on the account but were unable to trace the source.
The team has taken prompt actions to protect the integrity of the account.
Will Mr Ng file a police report?
While Ng’s media team did take prompt action to “protect the integrity” of Ng’s Instagram page, it was nevertheless concerning to hear of its preliminary finding that a third-party services may have been employed to artificially inflate Ng’s Instagram following.
In an age of bad-faith actors and the concerns that underpin the enactment of Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act, we asked Ng’s media team if they would be filing a police report in respect of the incident or report the matter to the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore.
Ng’s media team indicated that they were not inclined to file a report.
We do not wish to speculate about the origin or intention of the persons responsible for the inflation of the follower count.
As it was a one-off occurrence, there will be no further action.
While Ng’s media team may have decided to let the matter rest, if it is indeed true that a third-party caused the number of Instagram followers of a Presidential hopeful in Singapore to be artificially inflated, this does raise some cause for concern.
In our respectful view, this is something that ought to be investigated further and should not be taken lightly. Any form of interference in our Presidential elections, or the run up to it, must be nipped in the bud.
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