MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday called into question what he said was Facebook's biases, pointing out that the "private" pro-government pages were taken down while pages critical of the administration remain active.
This comes as the latest development after social networking site Facebook announced that it busted a network of accounts exhibiting “coordinated inauthentic behavior” which it linked to the Philippine police and military, both of whom have since rejected the allegations.
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In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the Department of Interior and Local Government urged Facebook officials to hold talks with government counterparts and restore the Facebook pages in question, pointing out that the pages were taken down "without prior consultation nor were the administrators of these accounts afforded due process."
"The popular social media platform, which counts the Philippines as one of its biggest markets in the world, has not been transparent in the conduct of its investigation on the questioned Philippine accounts, even if it maintains a large presence in the Philippines," Año's statement reads.
"We are also concerned with Facebook’s sense of fairness. For example, while it has actively deleted alleged fake pages linked to the military and police, it has surprisingly failed to root out the bots, or automated accounts, that are being maintained by political and armed groups that are actively seeking to overthrow duly constituted authority in the country. This raises a valid question about Facebook’s commitment to effectively police its own platform and the bias of their advisors," he also said.
In response to the busted accounts, Duterte addressed the social media giant at a televised address, saying: "Facebook, listen to me. We allow you to operate here hoping that you could help us also. Now if the government cannot espouse or advocate something which is for the good of the people, then what is your purpose here in my country?"
The chief executive at the time went on to accuse the social networking platform of encouraging communists, a label his administration has comfortably slapped on its critics.
'Coordinated networks feign illusion of public perception'
Año, a former military general, added that while Facebook "has taken down alleged pro-government pages, it has allowed unfettered access to hate speech spreaders and purveyors of fake news from Communist Terrorist Groups, for example, who are actively working to bring down our democratic way of life."
He did not address the allegations of coordinated and irregular behavior.
Over the coronavirus pandemic, the Philippine National Police has consistently posted content vilifying and red-tagging activists, government critics and even registered party-list lawmakers on its official social media accounts, none of which has been acknowledged by police leadership.
The PNP is an attached bureau under the DILG.
Speaking in an interview over social media news portal "Now You Know," University of the Philippines Diliman journalism professor Diosa Labiste pointed out that Facebook's position as a social networking platform came with a commitment to authenticity that discouraged any form of deception.
"These accounts work on the behalf of certain actors like the government for example, and they work to mislead people... Facebook doesn't want to censor anyone on the basis of their beliefs, but these were taken down [due to their] systematic and massive operations," she said in Filipino.
"You can see that there is an intention to commit harm."
Labiste added that with the looming 2022 elections, disinformation operations could be ramped up to sway results if left unchecked.
On the same program, Red Tani, advocacy and communications director of nonprofit EngageMedia, also said that the free services of Facebook could put at risk the right to privacy and sovereignty in the time of elections.
"Intent or malice isn't looked at by Facebook. What they look at is, is this content posted by real people or bots? Is the behavior coordinated? What results from this that we're led to believe that many people share an opinion, even though it's just small and coordinated network. And this is against the policy of Facebook," he said in Filipino.
"It's been proven that fake accounts can influence elections... the effects are scary, and the Philippines' case is not isolated. What the government should be doing is helping Facebook by committing to remove this type of activity, because this can be damaging to health and democracy and many other facets," he also said.
In late 2019, communications professors from De La Salle University cast fear over the growth of disinformation operations in the digital and creative industries in the Philippines, which they said was the world's "patient zero" in digital disinformation.