DILG urges Facebook to hold meeting with gov’t on shutdown of accounts

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is urging Facebook to have a meeting with concerned government agencies on its takedown of fake pages and accounts linked to the military and police.

In a statement on Monday, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the DILG is “concerned” with Facebook’s shutdown of the accounts for violating the company’s policy against “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

He noted that the social media giant’s action was “done without prior consultation nor were the administrators of these accounts afforded due process.”

“We, therefore, urge Facebook officials to hold talks with government counterparts to address the issue, roll back changes, and restore the Facebook pages in question, whenever possible, because recent developments highlight the need for the social media company and government to dialogue to clarify and improve the former’s policies in accordance with Philippine laws,” he said.

Facebook earlier announced the shutdown of 57 fake domestic accounts and 31 pages on its platform, as well as 20 Instagram accounts, that tackled criticism of the political opposition, activism, and communism.

Apart from domestic accounts, Facebook also took down 155 accounts, 11 pages, nine groups, and six Instagram accounts based in China that posted criticism of news site Rappler, support for President Rodrigo Duterte and and the potential bid of his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte for the 2022 presidential election, and Beijing’s interests in the West Philippine Sea and Hong Kong.

Año said the DILG is also concerned with Facebook’s “sense of fairness” in its action.

“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,” he said.

He stressed that “this raises a valid question about Facebook’s commitment to effectively police its own platform and the bias of their advisors.”

“While, it 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,” the Interior Chief added.

The Philippine National Police is an attached agency of the DILG.

Duterte earlier questioned the continuous operations of Facebook in the Philippines after its takedown of what he referred to as the government’s “advocacy” accounts and pages. Malacañang later clarified Duterte’s pronouncement and said he was only seeking a meeting with representatives of Facebook and did not intend to shut down the social media giant’s operations in the country.