Dela Rosa seeks hearing on coordinated behavior of FB pages

Senator Ronald Dela Rosa on Saturday said he called for a Senate hearing into the alleged coordinated inauthentic behavior of the fake accounts and pages which were taken down by Facebook.

“Kaya magpapatawag tayo ng Senate hearing para malaman natin ang sinasabi nilang coordinated inauthentic behavior. Sabi nila tinanggal dahil fake account, fake news,” Dela Rosa said in a radio interview.

Dela Rosa said he is only waiting for the action of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Committee on Mass Media which received his resolution.

“Meron namang representative ang Facebook Philippines dito sa atin. Puwede nilang imbitahan ‘yun at pagpapaliwanagin ano ba talaga ang standard na sinusunod para i-take down ang accounts na ito,” he said.

In late September, Facebook removed 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.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday questioned why Facebook should be allowed to continue operating in the Philippines if it “cannot help” the country.

However, Dela Rosa said he will not advocate for the banning of the social media platform as it is “very crucial.”

“77 million Filipinos rely on FB right now. ‘Yung iba diyan na rin kumukuha ng news. Hindi ko ina-advocate na ipasara. Sa akin lang magpaliwanag sila at ipaintindi na sundin nila ang Constitution,” he said.

An IT expert previously explained that Facebook did not take down the pages because of their content but due to the use of fake accounts to spread opinions.

“Wala pong sinasabi ang Facebook tungkol sa mensahe; tungkol sa left o tungkol sa right o tungkol sa communist o hindi communist. Wala pong pakialam ang Facebook tungkol sa bagay na ito," Red Tani of the group Filipino Freethinkers said.

"Ang pinarusahan po nila dito ay ang paggamit ng mga fake account sa malakawang level,” he added. — DVM, GMA New