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MANILA, Philippines – “You cannot establish a policy for my government,” President Rodrigo Duterte warned the social media giant Facebook in a pre-recorded speech that aired Monday night. “I allow you to operate here. It cannot forbid me or prevent me from defending the objectives of my government. “
Duterte made the comment days after Facebook announced that it had removed two networks, which consisted of fake accounts. One network, dating back to the Philippine military and police, had stories critical of opposition, activism and communism.
The president said the accounts were mere “lawyer pages” that were not doing any harm.
“No government in this wide world advocates murder or execution or all of that,” he said. “But you know there is a left there. The left is the National Democratic Front, then the New People’s Army as its organ. So if we can’t understand each other there, let’s talk again, ”he said, speaking in part in Filipino.
Duterte also questioned the future of the operation of the social networking site in the country, saying: “Is there life beyond Facebook? I do not know. But, we can talk “.
“My compatriots, forgive my long speech. Sometimes I have to because I have to spill everything so you can understand. If we really can’t come to an understanding with this Facebook, I really don’t know. But my job is to protect the interests of the government, ”he said.
“It is not even the work of others. It is mine, to always protect the interests of the government. If you can’t help me protect the interests of the government, let’s talk. We may or may not find the solution. If we can’t, I’m sorry, ”he added.
The pages tracked to the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines belonged to one of the two removed networks, according to Facebook’s chief of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher.
According to him, both networks operated using fake accounts intended to mislead people into thinking they were real people.
The other network dates back to a group of people in China’s Fujian province, and the content of their stories, written in Filipino, English and Chinese, focuses on Beijing’s interests in the Western Philippine Sea, Hong Kong and the possible presidential candidacy of Duterte’s daughter, the mayor of the city of Davao, Sara Duterte-Carpio.
This is not the first time that Facebook removed accounts supporting the administration.
In 2019, Facebook also removed a set of networks operated by Duterte’s former social media manager, Nicanor Gabunada Jr.
Gleicher clarified that the closures were never due to content, but rather because the accounts were fake, a violation of Facebook’s policy on coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB).
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