President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday told Facebook to explain its purge of accounts, which took down several government “advocacy” pages.
He claimed Facebook had succumbed to leftist propaganda critical of his administration.
“Facebook, listen to me. We allow you to operate here hoping that you could help us also. Now, if government cannot espouse or advocate something which is for the good of the people, then what is your purpose here in my country?” he said in a televised public address.
“Iyong left, ini-encourage kayo, then you believe in the left and to the point of almost make a sweeping move to [remove] websites ng health, military, we are fighting a war,” he added.
Duterte said Facebook should not prohibit a “fight of ideas” in the platform.
“You cannot lay down a policy for my government. I allow you to operate here. You cannot bar or prevent me from espousing the objectives of government,” he said.
Last week, Facebook removed a China-based network of accounts and pages that relied on fake accounts posing as fake citizens of target countries to post spam in groups.
The network consisted of 155 Facebook accounts, 11 pages and nine groups.
Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo earlier warned that the network could be part of China’s attempt to meddle and control the country’s domestic affairs.
Duterte spokesman Harry Roque, on the other hand, said it should pose no threat as Filipinos were “intelligent” enough to dismiss fake information in social media. John Ezekiel J. Hirro