A team of lawyers filed a petition against Facebook...on behalf of a former Cambodian opposition leader in an attempt to prove that the country's prime minister is using the social media platform to commit human rights abuses.  Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy is being prosecuted for defamation in Cambodia for his claims that Prime Minister Hun Sen bought a significant portion of his Facebook followers.  Facebook...has come under fire in recent months for distorting democratic processes...Sam Rainsy's niece, Lorya Noseda, told BuzzFeed News that Facebook had rebuffed his team's repeated requests to discuss the allegations.  That denial has prompted him to bring the social media giant to court in a bid to gain the evidence he needs to fight the charges against him.  (Facebook contested Noseda's claim, saying it had offered a phone conversation, but Noseda said the company's staffers never followed through.).  The lawsuit filed compels Facebook to provide information not only on Hun Sen's alleged purchased followers, but also the potential use of state funds to buy ads on the site...The analysis firm SocialBakers found in March 2016 that more than half of Hun Sen's likes on Facebook came from other countries, with large portions from India and the Philippines,...that are known for hosting so-called "click farms" where people can buy likes...Cambodian government officials frequently refer to the prime minister's success on the social network as a measure of his popularity and legitimacy in the country.  Hun Sen has cracked down on the independent press and civil society over the past few months, dissolving the opposition party that Sam Rainsy once led and jailing the party's leader, Kem Sokha...