FB warning on Esperon post claiming communist infiltration of Congress offends DILG
MANILA, Philippines — Facebook’s restriction of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr's post claiming communist infiltration of Congress — a practice flagged by the Commission on Human Rights and United Nations as dangeorus — is offensive and imprudent, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said.
In a statement on Wednesday, department spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said the department "denounces Facebook and its biased fact-checkers for their imprudence and audacity" to issue a warning to Esperon.
Malaya, also a spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict where Esperon sits as vice chair, said the flagged post was "urging all Filipinos to unite to end the Communist insurgency."
Esperon shared on February 16 a part of his flagged Facebook post. It read:
In ending insurgency, the Filipinos must unite against armed struggle and against all organizations, aboveground and underground that support the New People’s Army, including the Communist Party (CPP) members who have infiltrated the Congress through the partylist system.
Independent fact checkers however have repeatedly flagged claims that progressive party lists at the Congress as false and unproven claims. Red-tagging, or the practice of baselessly linking groups to the armed communist rebellion, have also been flagged for being dangerous and, in worse cases, have resulted in killings.
EXPLAINER: SC: Petitioners constantly red-tagged alleged 'credible threat of injury' vs anti-terror law
But the DILG scored Facebook for its supposed “imprudence” to warn Esperon on an issue involving national security. This, Malaya said, is “unthinkable and downright offensive.”
He also said the move of the social media giant is “alarming” and “dangerous” for censoring at their discretion, following their standards, of legitimate posts of country officials.
Meta's fact checking
Facebook’s fact-checking initiative is in line with its fight against the spread of misinformation on its platforms. They work with independent, third-party fact-checking organizations who received certification from the International Fact-Checking Network.
According to Facebook parent company Meta, fact-checkers can identify false posts based on their own reporting or Facebook itself may call their attention to potential misinformation.
Fact-checkers will then review and rate the accuracy of the post, but, Facebook stressed: "Fact-checkers do not remove content, accounts or Pages from Facebook."
"Facebook removes content when it violates our Community Standards, which is separate from our fact-checking program," it added.
Bias?
But Malaya went on to claim that Facebook and fact checkers seem to be intent on restricting accounts of government officials "while turning a blind eye to others."
Incidentally, the actual Communist Party of the Philippines earlier this month and in response to the takedown of accounts of the party and of units of the New People's Army said that Facebook had "effectively censored information that for years has challenged the dominant narrative being promoted and peddled by the reactionary government and the AFP."
In the same statement, the communist party said "the banning of the CPP and NPA on Facebook is just one of the most recent evidence of the company's exercise of arbitrary powers to censor information that are anti-imperialist and anti-fascist on the social networking platform."
Philippine media newsrooms, the academe, and organizations vowed to amplify fact-checking efforts as the 2022 national elections near. Fact-check reports range from COVID-19 claims, elections-related posts and statements of government officials.
Readers can verify the content of fact checks on their own since sources and bases for the fact-check ratings are included in the articles themselves.
Malaya, a lawyer and an official of the administration PDP-Laban party, urged Facebook to revisit its standards that he claimed are "one-sided and serve to promote the interest of the few and powerful."
"Finally, we call on [Facebook] to stick to its goal of helping people connect and engage, and to leave national security matters to the experts," the DILG official added.
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