PNP denies owning fake accounts taken down by Facebook

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday denied owning fake accounts that were taken down by Facebook due to "coordinated inauthentic behavior."

“Sa PNP na parte po ay we deny that,” PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Ysmael Salonga Yu said in an interview on Balitanghali.

Yu said PNP chief Police General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan already ordered the Information Technology Management Service to look into the accounts of the police organization’s sub-offices and Police Regional Offices.

“Mag-submit sila (offices) ng kanilang actions taken if there are fake accounts. And kung mayroon, we will investigate,” Yu said.

Meanwhile, he said the PNP, through its Director for Police Community Relations, only uses Facebook to connect with the community.

“Kasi ‘yan ang partner natin pagdating sa tinatawag na peace and progress. Pero when it comes to [online attacks, -tagging], we do not do that,” Yu said.

Facebook has taken down a network of fake accounts and pages allegedly linked to the Philippine military and police due to coordinated inauthentic behavior, a violation of its community standards.

Facebook's head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher said his team saw "several clusters of connected activity" to post content, to comment, and to manage pages which accelerated in 2019 and 2020.

The said network posted about domestic politics, the military's activities against terrorism, the anti-terrorism bill, criticism of communism, youth activists and the opposition, criticism of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Fifty-seven accounts were removed, along with 31 pages and 20 Instagram accounts. —KBK, GMA News