THE Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday, June 18, 2020, said it asked social media giant Facebook to take down 300 fake accounts.
The agency vowed to look into the spike in fake accounts, after Facebook users including students, activists, and journalists reported blank accounts bearing their names.
In a Laging Handa public briefing, Justice Undersecretary Mark Perete said 128 complaints involving 300 “ghost accounts” were filed before the DOJ.
“Mayroon tayong natanggap na 128 na complaints involving around 300 accounts. Ito ay hiniling na natin na tanggalin ng Facebook o i-take down,” Perete said.
He added that it asked Facebook to preserve the contents of the said accounts for investigation.
“At the same time, humingi tayo ng preservation ng mga laman ng mga accounts na ‘to para matignan kung saan nagamit at sino ‘yong nag create ng mga accounts,” Perete said.
“In the meantime, nagkaroon ng Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) na binubuo ng DOJ, National Privacy Commission (NPC), as well as DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) para tignan ‘yung problema natin sa ghost accounts on Facebook,” he said.
Perete said the IATF is closely coordinating with Facebook in the investigation into these fake accounts.
“Ang Inter-Agency Task Force ay nakipag-pulong, working in close coordination with Facebook para makita nating kung mayroon bang motibo, common threat that would connect all these accounts,” he said.
He added that the DOJ is still receiving reports regarding ghost accounts.
“We continue to receive complaints and as we receive them, ito ay ipinapaalam din natin sa Facebook as well as the NPC because ‘yung interes naman ng NPC is more on data privacy,” Perete said.
“They [NPC] want to see kung may mga protocols ‘yung Facebook that need to be tweaked or improved on to ensure na ‘yung data ng ating mga kababayan na nasa kanila ay protected,” he added.
Opposition Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan sponsored Senate Resolution no. 444 on June 9 urging the appropriate Senate committee to conduct an inquiry into the ghost accounts.
“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.
“We should not be utterly defenseless against social media manipulation and threats. We must use our laws to fight the fakes online,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)