Ira Losco’s influencer posts for Project Green reported to Standards Czar

The independent politician Arnold Cassola has called for a Standards investigation over a government publicity contract for social media influencer services with the Maltese singer and Eurovision star Ira Losco.

Cassola claimed Losco’s paid services for Project Green, an urban environmental park agency under the environment and energy ministry, were to “show what a purportedly happy time her family had” at various public parks, such as the Bengħajsa park and Campus Milbrae in Mosta’s Ġnien tal-Għarusa.

The Facebook posts tag minister Miriam Dalli, as well as Project Green chief executive Steve Ellul, a ministry employee bidding for an MEP’s seat in the forthcoming 2024 elections.

“I am asking for an investigation into the dirty actions of Dalli and Ellul,” Cassola told Standards czar Joseph Azzopardi in an email on Losco’s influencer posts tagging Project Green, Dalli and Ellul.

“Ellul is a PEP. The dirt here is serious for various reasons: false publicity, being undeclared political publicity paid by politicians; Dalli and Ellul are using taxpayers’ cash to promote their political interests; they use Losco’s children’s faces for their publicity, which is against the law.”

Losco uses her personal social media platforms under contract by Project Green to promote the agency with posts of her family enjoying days out in the parks under the agency’s purview, carrying links to the personal pages of Dalli and Ellul.

In comments to The Shift, which pointed out that the social media posts do not indicate in any way that they are sponsored, Losco said she saw nothing wrong in linking back to personal political pages despite being funded by public cash. The ministerial code of ethics and guidelines issued by the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, prohibits politicians from using public funds for self-promotion.