Senate to quiz SocMed execs on women, children protection
Social networks should start taking this issue seriously. The lives and future of our women and children are at stake
Social media networks will be under scrutiny during the Senate’s next hearing on the proposed measures against the abuse and exploitation of women and children online, Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday.
Hontiveros, chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, confirmed the participation of Facebook after lawmakers slammed the absence of a representative from their side during Tuesday’s discussion on Senate Bill (SB) 2068.
The bill is also known as the Special Protection against Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) Law or Anti-OSAEC Law.
“Facebook has committed to attend the next Anti-OSAEC hearing. We have heard their explanation that their policy team did not receive the invitation that was sent. And we will call the next hearing to provide a platform for Facebook and other social media outfits to explain their side and open themselves to questions from legislators,” the senator said in a statement.
The development came as solons renewed their call for tech giants such as Facebook and Twitter to crack down on illegal acts on their platforms.
“Social networks should start taking this issue seriously. The lives and future of our women and children are at stake. We always welcome innovation, but not if it comes at the expense of the Filipino people,” she said.
“It’s not just fake news that easily spreads on social media but also the abuse of our youth and women,” she added.
Senator Francis Pangilinan earlier aired his ire on Facebook’s absence and also questioned the company’s interest to address the challenges.
“Why isn’t Facebook here? Are they even interested to address the challenges, these violations of our children’s rights? The least they could have done was appear here before the committee and explain their own policies and it is most unfortunate that their absence here prevents us from getting their side,” he said.
“We don’t want to quarrel with the private sector but they’re not here. Some experts on online technology, digital experts, actually describe Facebook as a crime scene, particularly these fake accounts undertaking these criminal activities,” he added.
Pangilinan then proposed to conduct a separate hearing that would study the proliferation of such cases on Facebook. His proposal was backed by senators Pia Cayetano and Imee Marcos.
We always welcome innovation, but not if it comes at the expense of the Filipino people.
“If we will have a separate hearing, we will support that because they must be accountable for the role that they play. There are a lot of documentaries around and they’re really showing how the role of social media is contributing to seriously damaging our youth,” Cayetano said.
According to the International Justice Mission, cases of online sexual exploitation in the country spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on their data, reports of online sexual exploitation they received tripled in 2020 reaching over 1.2 million from around 400,000 cases reported in 2019.
This is not the first time that the lawmakers criticized the tech giants.
Just last month, Pangilinan and Marcos slammed Facebook over the rise of illegal adoption cases in its platform as reported by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Facebook has recently updated guidelines to remove posts sexualizing children. It also launched new tools including one that triggers pop-up messages in response to search terms associated with child exploitation, warning of the consequences of viewing such material, and suggesting people get help changing the behavior.