371 violative online posts selling medicines removed – FDA

MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  has removed 371 violative online posts selling medicines, specifically on Lazada, Shopee, and Facebook, as of February 2022.

This is almost twice the number recorded by FDA in 2020 when it removed only 189 violative posts, FDA Deputy Director Oscar Gutierrez said in the weekly taped “Talk to the People” briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte that aired on Monday.

Meanwhile, 1,642 violative posts were removed in 2021.

“This means we recorded a 779 percent increase in removal compared to 2020,” Gutierrez said.

He said that the FDA had already partnered with Facebook and developed the “FB Consumer Police Channel CPC.” This would allow the FDA to report content that might have violated policies of the social media platform directly and have it deleted or turned down.

The main office of the Food and Drugs Administration in Muntinlupa City. (Photo from the FDA Facebook page)

“So right now, we just do it electronically through email. Then we receive confirmation that they received our report. Within five days after we endorse or report it to Facebook, they remove it — anything health product-related that is violative of our national policies,” Gutierrez said.

In the same briefing, Duterte issued this warning in Filipino: “I am advising the Filipinos: Lay off these online shops. There are many thieves there Their imagination can really go wild and think of a violation that is really swindling people.”

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