PNP units to look into removed fake Facebook accounts linked to police officers

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) will look into the fake Facebook accounts that were removed and were traced to police officers, PNP spokesman Ysmael Yu said Wednesday.

In a statement,  Yu said  the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group and Information Technology Management Service are “asking for the list of alleged Facebook accounts linked to the PNP.”

“Should there be updates, it will be from their end to feedback to the Chief PNP (Gen. Camilo Cascolan),” Yu said.

When sought for reaction on the takedown of the Facebook accounts, Yu said the police organization respects Facebook’s decision.

“PNP has no problem with this issue. FB (Facebook) owns its website, they are the sole troubleshooter on detected suspicious accounts branded as fake,” he said.

Last week, the social media giant announced the takedown of about 100 fake accounts linked to the military and the police which shared posts critical of the opposition, activism, and communism. The “advocacy” groups of the administration were also removed from the social media site.

Facebook said the posts were taken down not because of their content but because the posts were reportedly deceiving Facebook users into thinking that such accounts were from actual people.

The move also caught President Rodrigo Duterte’s attention wherein he sought to talk with Facebook over the takedown of the accounts.

/MUF