Facebook must uphold community standards and dismantle the GRP terror-tagging machine

Malaya Movement USA supports demands to reform on Facebook. We support and stand with former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen, the most recent whistleblower who has exposed the dangers of the platform.

In the Philippines the impact of this has been very apparent. Facebook has been actively used by the Duterte regime, particularly by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and its Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

Zara Alvarez, a human rights defender and member of Karapatan, a human rights alliance, was murdered last after getting vilified and terror-tagged mostly via facebook by accounts directly operated by the Philippine government. More recently, Atty. Juan Macababbad, a human rights defender and member of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) was vilified via Facebook and later assassinated. We ourselves in the Malaya Movement USA have been consistently red tagged by no less than the NTF-ELCAC themselves and its agents in the U.S.

Repeatedly, these accounts were reported by activists by constantly receiving responses from Facebook that red-tagging “does not violate its community standards.” The pattern is glaring - Facebook is actively being weaponized by the Philippine government to lay the ground for its systemic attacks on dissent and civil liberties.

It is clear from Haugen’s testimonies that Facebook has been well-aware of how its platform and its algorithm have been abused. While we recognize that Facebook has shut down many troll pages and has imposed temporary bans on Duterte’s chief architects of red-tagging like Badoy and Parlade, these are not sufficient. It is time for Facebook to take action - they must review and uphold their community standards. They must permanently ban Philippine government pages that have engaged in red-tagging. They must prioritize the safety and well-being of their users.

End the weaponization of social media!
Activism is not Terrorism!
Uphold the People’s Right to Information!

Dapat itaguyod ng Facebook ang kanilang community standards at lansagin ang GRP terror-tagging machine

Sinusuportahan ng Malaya Movement USA ang mga panawagan na i-reporma ang Facebook. Kami ay sumusuporta at nakikiisa sa mga dating empleyado ng Facebook tulad ni Frances Haugen na ngayong tumatayong whistleblower na nagbunyag sa mga panganib na dulot ng Facebook.

Sa Pilipinas, ang epekto nito ay malinaw. Aktibong ginagamit ng rehimeng Duterte ang Facebook, lalo na ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), ng Philippine National Police (PNP), ng National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) at ng Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

Si Zara Alvarez, isang human rights defender at miyembro ng Karapatan na isang organisasyon ng mga nagsusulong ng karapatang pantao ay pinaslang pagkatapos siraan ang kanyang pagkatao at bansagang terorista ng mga Facebook accounts na direktang pinakikilos ng gobyerno.

Nito lamang, si Atty. Macababbad, isang abogado at miyembro ng National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) ay ganun din at di nagtagal ay pinaslang. Kami mismo sa Malaya Movement USA ay patuloy na ni-rered tag ng NTF ELCAC at ng mga ahente nito sa U.S.

Paulit-ulit, ang mga account na ito ay ini-report ng mga aktibista at patuloy namang nakatanggap ng tugon mula sa Facebook na ang red-tagging “ay hindi lumalabag sa mga community standards nito.” Malinaw ang pattern - kinakasangkapan ang Facebook ng gobyerno para ilatag ang mga sistematikong pag-atake sa mga pagtutol at kalayaang sibil.

Malinaw mula sa testimonya ni Haugen na alam ng Facebook kung paanong ang kanilang plataporma at ang algorithm nito ay inaabuso. Habang kinikilala namin ang pag-shutdown ng Facebook sa ilang mga troll pages at pagiimpose nito ng pansamantalang pagka-ban sa mga punong arkitekto ng red tagging na sina Badoy at Parlade, ito ay hindi sapat.

Panahon na para kumilos ang Facebook - kailangan nilang repasuhin ang kanilang community standards. Dapat nilang i-ban ng permanente ang mga facebook pages ng rehimeng Duterte na patuloy na nangre-redtag. Dapat nilang isaalang alang ang kabutihan ng mga gumagamit ng Facebook.

Itigil ang weaponization ng social media!
Aktibismo, hindi terorismo!
Ipagtanggol ang karapatan ng mamamayan sa impormasyon!