Malacañang objects Facebook deal with Rappler, Vera Files

MALACAÑANG expressed its opposition against Facebook's partnership with Rappler and Vera Files to check facts on the social media site to prevent the spread of fake news in the Philippines.

“I commiserate with those who object to the selection of Rappler and Vera files because they know, we know, where they stand on the political spectrum. I would say that the efforts of Facebook to counter fake news are the solution and not legislation. However, there are those who are complaining that the chosen police of the truth, so to speak, are sometimes partisan themselves and of course, this is the problem with truth that can be subjective depending on your political perspective,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.

Several Duterte supporters, who have tagged Rappler as “yellow” or part of the Liberal Party and reported fake news about the President to taint his reputation, have shifted to Russian-based social media platform Vkontakte (VK) after Facebook announced its fact-checking initiative.

They also opposed the fact-checking partnership since Rappler allegedly violated the constitutional restriction on foreign ownership on mass media. since the partnership was announced, Facebook has started blocking websites that have supposedly been publishing fake news articles defending Duterte from critics.

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation executive Jimmy Bondoc, on his official Facebook account, threatened to start a nationwide petition to delete Facebook and move to another social media website. Bondoc’s post has been deleted but screen shots were shared online. “I will personally commence a nationwide petition to delete Facebook. I also assure you that I will be supported strongly,” Bondoc, an acoustic guitar player and singer, said.

Paula Knack, sister of the late Senator Miriam Santiago, also urged Duterte supporters to move to VK to bring their defense of the President and the Philippines to the international audience. “Do not let yellows censor or fact-check you. Let’s leave them to talk to themselves and get votes. We will tell the world what is truth in another platform this time, in Europe,” Knack said.

Roque, however, said that Duterte supporters should make known to Facebook their displeasure over the fact-checking partnership. “It’s the free marketplace of ideas. My advice is for the Facebook users to make their wishes known to Facebook and of course the possibility of shifting is always there,” he said.

He also pointed out that there have also been calls to delete Facebook after it was involved in a data mining scandal where personal information of more than a million Filipino users may have been shared without their consent. “There’s a worldwide movement to delete Facebook not just because of their moves in the Philippines but because also of privacy concerns,” Roque said.

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), for its part, lauded Facebook’s factchecking initiative, but protested the choice of fact-checkers, referring to Rappler and Vera Files. “We give our all-out support to them in their efforts to combat the creation and spread of false news that have poisoned our shared space and dumbed down, if not encouraged, vicious discourse in our online community -- and that has served no one in any good way,” PCOO Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy said.

“We would also like to register our protest at the choice of fact-checkers by Facebook and this will be on the agenda when we finally get to sit with them soon,” she added, however, Badoy said that efforts are underway for both the PCOO and Facebook to discuss and hopefully, reach agreements on the responsible use of social media.