Cayetano: House to investigate Facebook takedown of pro-gov't pages

The House of Representatives will initiate an "appropriate proceeding" to determine if Facebook's move to take down a network of fake accounts and pages allegedly linked to the military and police was against freedom of expression granted under the Constitution.

No less than Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano made the remark on Tuesday after President Rodrigo Duterte slammed the tech giant over its removal of the said accounts and pages.

"Upon passage of the 2021 Budget in the House of Representatives, rest assured that we shall initiate the appropriate proceedings in aid of legislation to truly determine if the reported actions of Facebook are detrimental to the Constitutional freedom of expression guaranteed to all Filipinos, regardless of political color, rich or poor, left or right," Cayetano said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

Facebook last week took down several pages and accounts linked to the military and police for “coordinated inauthentic behavior

These included posts on such issues such as the Anti-Terrorism Law and criticism of activists and communists.

Cayetano said that while Facebook has allowed the Philippines to become a much more democratic country, he expressed "grave concern" on Facebook supposedly being "partisan" by removing the accounts linked with the military and police yet allowing pages directly calling to overthrow the government and supporting terrorism to proliferate.

He pointed out that while dissent and protest are always welcome, violence and terrorism are never tolerated.

"We call on Facebook Philippines to take this time to introspect and reflect on the soundness of its actions that tend to undermine the democratic principles upon which its phenomenal success is based," Cayetano said.

"Favoring one sector or ideology - especially one that has been tagged by the international community as a terrorist organization - directly contradicts Facebook’s core purpose of connecting all people globally in a free, open, and neutral marketplace of ideas," he added.

In 2018, Facebook also removed pro-Duterte pages due to spam behavior. -NB, GMA News