Facebook ban not good for Filipinos, social media giant — Palace

Malacañang on Tuesday downplayed concerns that President Rodrigo Duterte might ban Facebook in the Philippines after he criticized the social media giant’s decision to remove pages linked to the police and military.

Duterte prefers dialogue between the government and Facebook over concerns arising from the shutdown of accounts that supposedly promoted the advocacies of the administration, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

Roque also said banning Facebook would be bad for Filipinos and the company itself. Facebook boasts millions of users from the Philippines.

“Alam ninyo po parehong hindi mabuti iyan sa Facebook at sa Pilipinas, number one po kasi sa buong mundo tayo sa Facebook. So kung mawawala tayo, malaking kawalan po iyan sa Facebook,” Roque said in a televised briefing.

“Dahil number one nga tayo, marami ring Pilipinong gumagamit ng Facebook na maaapektuhan din. So ang sabi naman ng Presidente, pag-usapan iyan dahil pare-pareho naman silang sinusulong ang karapatan ng malayang pananalita at iyong malayang merkado ng mga idea,” he added.

Duterte on Monday raised the question about whether Facebook should continue its presence in the Philippines after it took down pages and accounts associated with the military and police for coordinated inauthentic behavior.

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

Facebook has also removed the pages supportive of the President and a potential Palace run of Duterte’s daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio in 2022.

“Ang kongkretong aksiyon po ay huwag pong supilin ang kalayaan ng malayang pananalita ng mga personalidad o mga pages na pabor po sa gobyerno,” Roque said.

“Kasi ang nangyayari po, kapag laban sa gobyerno hindi po tinatanggal ng Facebook; kapag sumusuporta sa gobyerno naitatanggal po.”

Malacañang earlier said Duterte supporters would likely migrate to a different platform following the shutdown of the Facebook pages.  — RSJ, GMA News