The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Friday called on social networking firm Facebook to release information on the number of pages allegedly having links with the military that were included in the massive takedown of accounts or pages due to “coordinated inauthentic behavior”.
“We want to know from Facebook because ‘blanket’ they told us that they took down an ‘X’ number of accounts that has links or linkages with the Philippine military. We want to know what exactly are these accounts, how many of them have connections with the AFP,” said AFP spokesperson Marine Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said in a Laging Handa briefing.
Arevalo said this is to remove doubts from the minds of some people that the AFP is engaged in fake news or using fake accounts.
He said all of the official Facebook accounts or pages managed by the AFP are still up and running.
He added that the Facebook Philippine Policy Team should elaborate on what “coordinated inauthentic behavior” as it was not explained during a virtual courtesy call with AFP chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay and some select staff members last September 23.
Commission of Human Rights Commissioner Karen Gomez Dumpit, meanwhile, described this development as “alarming.”
“If this is true, the Commission categorically states that this goes against the best interest of the public. In these times when cyber militias and troll farms are reported to drown out legitimate dissent and haphazardly label individuals and organizations as ‘enemies of the people,’ such allegations cast doubts on the agenda of these institutions.”
She called on lawmakers to create laws against those who systematically purvey disinformation, carefully balancing them with the people’s right to freedom of expression.
“If proven that such malicious activity is a state-sponsored propaganda, the CHR commits to hold those perpetrators to account as they are violations of civil and political rights,” the agency said.
“Apart from resorting solely to new laws, much of the work should be focused on improving digital literacy and critical thinking among internet users to reduce the impacts of disinformation,” it added.
Earlier, Arevalo said the engagement was highlighted by a presentation as to Facebook’s Policy Rationale and what other things they do through their platform.
“We are pleased to know that we have similar advocacies with Facebook, among them the fight against drug trafficking; child exploitation; and counter-terrorism,” he added in a statement forwarded to reporters shortly after the event last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the CHR welcomed the move of Facebook to take down networks of fake accounts originating from or affecting the Philippines and its neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.
Commissioner Dumpit said disinformation is a human rights issue, citing false information causes serious harm to society, and that Facebook has been weaponized against democracy and freedom of expression.
“Under human rights law, everyone has the right to receive and impart information. This presupposes correct and accurate information. Freedom of expression is also not an unlimited right and could be restricted to respect the rights or reputations of others and for the protection of national security, public order, public health, or morals,” she said in a statement.
“There are also other rights in International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that may be impacted negatively by disinformation, such as the right to free and fair elections (Article 25); the right to privacy (Article 17); and the freedom from hate speech (Article 20), among other interrelated rights,” she added.
She said that while the CHR welcomed the development, “we bewail that Facebook does not adopt a fully rights-based approach to its policies. The policy of Facebook should be anchored on human rights, the foremost of which in this case is the right to receive and impart information and the right to freedom of expression.”
“We remind Facebook that corporations and businesses have a moral responsibility to respect, protect, and remedy the violations of rights under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Social media’s bottomline should not be merely profits and money. It should also be the true and genuine connection of people to each other,” she said.
In the previous statement of the CHR on the surge of Facebook dummy accounts, Gomez Dumpit sai “we recognize the responsibility of Facebook in protecting human rights given that their platform may be used to advance or curtail basic rights and fundamental freedoms. In recent times, social media platforms have played a crucial role in democratic exchanges and processes.”
Unknown entities were reportedly using several networks of fake accounts to post content, comment and manage pages that circulate false information online. With PNA