Poe denies eyeing Facebook ban in PH

Senator Grace Poe has denied erroneous articles spreading online that she was allegedly proposing to prohibit Facebook in the Philippines.

“Iyan ang fake news. Hindi totoo ‘yan. First of all, that’s counterproductive… Mali. ‘Yun talaga ang disinformation,” Poe said in a television interview on Thursday.

Pro-administration pages on Facebook had been sharing stories alleging that Poe wanted to ban the famous social networking platform in the country.

But Poe clarified that the video that was being circulated was only “spliced” to make it appear that she wanted to forbid Facebook use.

“Yung mga lumabas [sa social media], syempre hindi natin pipigilan. Ako mismo nasa Facebook, yung mga anak ko nasa Facebook, marami sa ating mga kababayan ang kumukuha ng balita mula sa Facebook,” Poe said.

Poe, as chairman of the Senate committee on public information and mass mesia, led the series of hearings on fake news, which was attended by Palace communications officials, media representatives, and bloggers.

During the hearing last January 30, Poe asked a law expert about the extent of the government’s reach in blocking hate speech and expressions online that border on criminal liability.

“Not that we’re going to do this. I’ll be the first to disagree if they do. But let’s say, can you block a particular company like Facebook from being accessed in the Philippines? Of course that would spark a revolution and we know that. But what I’m saying is this: They’re banking on their popularity but we should also assert their accountability to us,” Poe had said, in reference to the accountability of the social media giant for its failure to address offensive statements.

The lady senator then appealed to netizens to take time to crosscheck facts from lies, and examine carefully the information they receive.

“We’ve come up also with our own video of the proceedings, kasi it (video circulating online) was spliced. If you’re conscientious enough and you really want to find the truth…kasi kapag ayaw mong malaman ang katotohanan madali namang kalimutan yan,” Poe added.            /kga