Tulfo brothers, Hontiveros slam social media platforms for prioritizing virality over safety

Several senators condemned various social media platforms for failing to regulate violent and graphic content following the deadly school shootings in Tacloban and Zamboanga—seemingly prioritizing virality over safety.

During a Senate session on Tuesday, Sen. Erwin Tulfo slammed platforms such as Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram for failing to uphold their own community standards against graphic violence and sensitive materials.

“We have recently witnessed social media posts connected to tragic incidents, including the Zamboanga high school shooting and the Tacloban school shooting, where images, videos, or posts involving alleged perpetrators and disturbing circumstances were reportedly circulated online,” Tulfo said in his privilege speech.

“I want to be very careful here: we must not pre-judge anyone who has not been convicted by a court. But neither should social media companies be allowed to turn tragedy into viral content,” he added.

Tulfo questioned why social media platforms allowed graphic photos from both shootings to proliferate, emphasizing that crime should not be made into content. He said that if these content creators make money from advertisers and subscribers, they should be more responsible with the content they publicize.

“A policy written on a website means very little if your algorithms and moderators allow prohibited content to be uploaded online and remain there for millions of people—including children—to see it,” Tulfo said, addressing social media platforms.

Several other senators agreed with Tulfo.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the chair of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, said social media platforms should have a juridical entity.

“Importante na and bawat entity na iyon ay may opisina dito mismo sa Pilipinas para kung kailangan makipag-ugnayan sa kanila ‘yung mga law enforcement authorities natin, ‘yung mga investigator, mas madali nila maisagawa,” Hontiveros said.

(It is important that these entities will have an office here in the Philippines so that if needed, the law enforcement authorities and investigators could more easily collaborate with them.)

Hontiveros said that virality was the business model of social media platforms. She said that virality should no longer be their source of profit.

Meanwhile, Sen. Raffy Tulfo agreed with his brother, saying that it was now the algorithm that determines what young people are watching these days.

One click is all it took for children to be exposed to violence, grooming, extremism and more, the senator said.

Various child welfare and mental health groups have urged for more responsible posting amid the shootings, slamming the virality surrounding the school shootings in Tacloban and Zamboanga. —RF, GMA News