De Lima asks Google PHL anew to take down 'fake videos' on YouTube

Senator Leila de Lima expressed alarm on Friday alarm about the "continued" proliferation of "fake videos" on YouTube and asked Google Philippines anew to take the clips down.

“The continued proliferation of fake videos on YouTube is highly alarming.  These fake videos have been widely shared across social media platforms by well-orchestrated network of pages that aim to manipulate reality to advance their political agendas,” De Lima said.

She said fake videos are populating video-sharing website YouTube, one of Google’s subsidiaries, which becomes the go-to platform of sinister groups to spread lies and misleading content.

Likewise, De Lina said that Google Philippines should take concrete and decisive actions to ensure the veracity of the videos and audio clips it allows to be disseminated and shared on its service by cleaning up YouTube of fake clips.

“Google Philippines should take this concern seriously and start the crackdown on fake videos, including deep fake videos, on YouTube to free the public from any confusion about what’s real and what’s fake.  This is long overdue,” she added.

Also, the senator said she has since been aware of the malicious content populating YouTube because she has been a constant target of fake news on the said platform, as with other social media platforms.

“I should know. Evil men and women who are behind the fake news stories and videos against me have long been resorting to YouTube, among other social media platforms, to discredit me and make me appear bad in the public’s eyes,” she said.

“Even though my Senate staff report these online fake news pages and websites regularly, their efforts are not enough to control the proliferation of these fake news videos, especially among overseas Filipino workers,” she added.

Sought for comment, Google Philippines told GMA News Online in a text message that it is coming out with a statement on the matter soon. —LBG, GMA News