Censorship? FB says sorry

Several Facebook pages or posts critical of president- elect Rodrigo Duterte and the family of defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have been taken down after being “mob reported” by thousands of their supporters.

Juan Nationalist, a Facebook page that has posted numerous criticisms against the incoming

president, was shut down over the weekend but was later restored following a letter to Facebook head manager for global politics and government Katie Harbath.

“She graciously acted on my case after this page was mob reported,” the page owner said, alleging that the reports came from supporters of Duterte.

“I sent her a personal appeal letter detailing how ( they) orchestrated a mob report which aims to suppress my right to free speech and open political discourse. After the reviews were made, she told me that the page was indeed mob reported in thousands and that they would return the page,” the owner added.

The page of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) was also taken down after it released a statement criticizing Duterte’s declarations against media and journalist killings.

“FB removed the page of #Ejap or the Economic Journalists Ass’n of the Philippines after it issued a statement on DU30’s anti media rampage,”

The STAR business reporter Iris Gonzales tweeted.

Following its removal, reposts of the statement have circulated in other pages, including that of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

“We in EJAP, as an organization of business and economic journalist in the Philippines, take pride in our and the industry’s role as the messenger of news, be it good or bad, that contribute to the development and growth of the country,” read the statement.

“Mr. Duterte’s recent pronouncement justifying the killing of some practitioners for alleged corrupt practices, however, casts doubt on the industry’s aspirations, unjustifiably threatening the lives of us journalists,” it added.

The EJAP page has yet to be restored.

Anti-Marcos

Earlier, journalist Ed Lingao said his post on the proposed burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani had been taken down by the social media giant.

“You want him buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani? Very well, but on the headstone, put the name William Saunders. That is the name he used to open his first Swiss account that later mushroomed to a dozen, whose contents mushroomed to $300 million, and that mushroomed with interest to $700 million, that was claimed in court by his family that still refuses to admit having any hidden wealth, but claims ownership of those accounts that are worth roughly P33 billion,” part of the taken down post read.

“How they can do that with a straight face, go figure in a painfully long but failed litigation, that was turned over by the Swiss government to the Philippine government after ruling that it was illegally obtained, and that was officially turned over to government coffers in 2003 following a Supreme Court ruling that said the Marcoses could never have in any way legally acquired that amount,” it added.

He reposted the same status last week, but it was again removed by Facebook. He was also barred from posting from his account for 24 hours.

The second, which like the first one has been shared by thousands of netizens, was already restored, with Lingao saying he was informed that it was an accident.

The journalist also received numerous threats for the post.