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Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa (Screenshot / Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is pushing for an investigation into the removal of Facebook accounts supporting President Rodrigo Duterte, as well as pro-military “defense” pages.
Dela Rosa requested the investigation through Senate Resolution No. 531.
Its resolution seeks to order the competent Senate Commission to carry out the investigation to ensure the protection and not coercion of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and expression.
Dela Rosa noted that Facebook had removed 57 Instagram accounts, 31 pages and 20 profiles that posted or shared content in support of the president, as well as topics relevant to Filipino workers abroad, military activities against terrorism, the controversial anti-terrorism law, critics. of communism, youth activist, Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
“It was alleged by critics of the censorship carried out by the social network platform that some Facebook pages and profiles supposedly supporting and promoting the violent activities and ideologies of the communist-terrorist CPP-NPA were not included in the Facebook action,” he said the senator in his resolution.
On September 23, Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, announced that the social media platform had removed two networks for coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB), or the use of a large number of fake accounts to operate.
One of the networks dates back to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The other network removed by Facebook dates back to a group of people in China’s Fujian province. This network had sites with posts in Filipino expressing their support for Duterte and her daughter’s possible 2022 presidential candidacy.
The president criticized the social media giant, saying that Facebook seemed to believe the accusations of leftists criticizing his administration.
One page removed by Facebook was Hands Off Our Children, which was set up and run by a Philippine army captain as a platform for parents whose children had allegedly been recruited by the communist New People’s Army.
“The censorship campaign against the recruitment of children from the communist terrorist group could hamper efforts to prevent the spread of violent extremism in the country,” Dela Rosa said in her resolution.
He said there is an “urgent” need for the Senate to investigate the alleged censorship of Facebook “considering that it affects not only peace and order, and the security of our country, but also greatly affects the freedom of expression of all Filipinos guaranteed by none other than the Constitution of the Philippines. “
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