Pangilinan wants inquiry over duplicated Facebook accounts

By JOHN CARLO M. CAHINHINAN

MANILA – Senator Francis Pangilinan is seeking an investigation into the proliferation of duplicate Facebook accounts over the weekend that targeted students form state universities, certain government officials, members of the media and other critics of the Duterte administration.

Pangilinan said a Senate inquiry is needed as he sudden surge of dummy Facebook accounts came following the protests staged on the streets and online against the Congress-approved Anti-Terrorism bill.

“Some Facebook users reported to have received threats from said dummy accounts using their names. The threats even go as far as calling said users ‘terrorists’,” said Pangilinan.

Pangilinan warned that the recent online acts in the Facebook platform “could imperil one’s security and privacy.”

“We should not be utterly defenseless against social media manipulation and threats. We must use our laws to fight the fakes online,” he added.

Senate Resolution No. 444 filed by Pangilinan recently is seeking to conduct an inquiry to find out if there is a need to amend Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and other pertinent laws to make them more responsive to the situation.

Pangilinan said the inquiry would also help determine “possible regulation of social media platforms, in accordance with the policy that respects the rights and freedoms of all Filipinos guaranteed by the Constitution.”

“There is a need to look into our existing laws to increase the extent of liability and possible regulation of service providers or content hosts such as Facebook and other social media platforms,” he said.

The Facebook management has already vowed to look into the suspicious activity on its platform, while the Department of Justice announced it will also conduct its own investigation.

Earlier, Senate Committee on National Defense chair Panfilo Lacson said he’s not closing the possibility that critics of the Anti-Terror bill were possibly behind the multiple duplicate accounts sprouted in Facebook as part of their “scare tactics” against the controversial legislation.

Numerous bogus Facebook accounts targeting activists, students of state universities, and members of media sprouted over the weekend, as oppositors of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 claimed that the incident might be a “prelude to crackdown” once the controversial legislation reached President Rodrigo Duterte’s table for signature.

But Lacson shrugged off such pronouncement from the oppositors of the measure, saying that it’s just part of their disinformation campaign and the bill.

“Ito ang mga disinformation campaign na kumakalat ngayon. Kaya ibalik ko sa kanila, baka sila rin may gawa ng trolls na nananakot na may dadamputin,” said Lacson.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)