Sen. Imee Marcos: “Bakit itina-tap yan bilang gatekeeper ika nga”
Senator Imee Marcos questioned Facebook why Rappler and Vera Files, who are both critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, chosen as the fact-checker in the Philippines.
“Yung laging daing ng ating administrasyon, kung bakit yung fact-checker na ginagamit ng Facebook e yung dalawang tanyag na media na bumabatikos kay Presidente Duterte sa kada kilos, halos, e yung Rappler at yung Vera Files, bakit itina-tap yan bilang gatekeeper ika nga,” she said during the hearing of the Senate committee on electoral reforms of which she is the chair.
In 2018, Facebook partnered with Rappler and Vera Files as their third-party fact-checking program in the Philippines.
Earlier, Marcos admitted that she was upset when some Marcos pages were deleted from Facebook amid the 2019 senatorial election.
“Ang parati nating sinasabi yung coordinated [inauthentic] behavior, e kapag eleksyon e talagang coordinated yan. Sasabihin ko na yung totoo, ako may hinanakit sa mga takedown na yan nung March 2019,” Imee Marcos said.
The committee also discussed a resolution encouraging government agencies to take steps to identify and repel the potential involvement of foreigners in elections.
“Maraming fan pages na mga Marcos loyalists ang nadale diyan. Hindi namin hawak, they’re not registered with the Comelec [Commission on Elections], because we have absolutely no control over these groups,” Imee Marcos said.
Marcos wonders why Marcos pages on Facebook have been removed even though they are just ordinary fan pages.
“They were like basic fan pages but naturally, in the midst of a campaign, their actions were probably what could be called coordinated,” Imee Marcos noted.
Information and Communications Secretary Undersecretary Emmanuel Rey Caintic explained, “Posibleng tama naman ang pahina mo, that’s a legit page, pero pag napapansin po kasing may coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
“Meaning to say, maraming fake accounts, na nagla-like at nagpo-post sa legit page mo, pwede kayong ma-take down, hindi dahil sadya mo ‘yon,” he added.
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