SENATOR Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan has filed a resolution seeking an investigation into the proliferation of fake Facebook accounts.
Senate Resolution 444 urges the appropriate Senate committee to conduct the investigation.
In a statement, Pangilinan said that he filed the resolution to see if there is a need to strengthen the Republic Act (RA) no. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
“It is the declared policy of the State to protect and safeguard the integrity of communications systems, networks, and databases, and the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and data stored therein, from all forms of misuse, abuse, and illegal access,” the resolution read.
“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,” it added.
Facebook has already vowed to look into the matter and encouraged the public to report any suspicious activity on the platform.
“We understand the concerns raised by our community in the Philippines. We are investigating reports of suspicious activity on our platform and taking action on any accounts that we find to be in our policies,” Facebook said.
“We encourage people to continue reporting any account they believe may be inauthentic,” it added.
The fake Facebook accounts targeted students and alumni of the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University, government officials and journalists. (SunStar Philippines)