OVER the weekend, April 23 to 24, the editorial staff of Philippine News Agency (PNA) posted on social media how Facebook was flagging PNA stories and links as violations to community standards. However, they were not the only ones reporting this. Netizens from different walks of life also noted that the PNA stories and links they shared have also been flagged.
"Social media giant Meta (Facebook) has flagged multiple PNA posts which allegedly violated its community standards," PNA posted on its Facebook page on April 24, 2022. PNA is the Philippine government’s official web-based newswire service.
The news agency added, "Individual account-sharers of PNA articles, including PNA reporters and editors, have also been flagged."
Late in the afternoon of April 24, PNA posted an update stating that Facebook has stopped flagging its posts.
It also stated that "Since before midnight on April 23, 2022, PNA stories posted on Facebook, as well as those of individual account-sharers of PNA articles, got flagged."
National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) spokesperson and Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy said the flagging of PNA posts were "“pathetic, cowardly, desperate, and lutang."
The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) also condemned Facebook describing the flagging as "acts of harassment and intimidation and a brazen curtailment of civil liberties, particularly the right to freedom of information and expression but more importantly, an assault on the country’s sovereignty."
Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr., chair of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, said in a letter to John Rubio, country director of Facebook Philippines, that they are requesting Facebook to explain the recent flagging and removal of posts and shared links by government officials, government media agencies, and other netizens. Earlier, the account of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon was also flagged by the social media giant.
PNA said on Monday, April 25, that Facebook is looking into the incident.
"Talks are ongoing with Facebook as it vowed to look into the incident," PNA said in a Facebook post.
In a separate PNA report, Facebook has informed the news agency that the recent incident was a technical issue.
In a Philstar.com report by Franco Luna on April 25, a Meta spokesperson said "some links to the PNA and Radyo Pilipinas websites appear to be blocked from being shared on our apps, by an automation system."
"As a result, other Facebook Pages that have previously shared these links, would see their posts flagged as well. We are investigating and working to resolve this issue," Meta was quoted saying in the report.
There is a bit of concern on the flagging and removal of posts from government institutions and figures.
Whether it is caused by the system, as stated by Meta, or an alleged human intervention, the censorship of official government posts and links shows truly how powerful social media can be used in controlling the information we consume.
In a sense, this supposed "issue" in Meta's system is somewhat a threat to freedom of expression, freedom to consume information, and freedom of the press. It can be used by entities to silence people and organizations on the digital space.
The community standards have become a double-edged sword -- it may stop the spread of misinformation and other harmful information but at the same time, information from official sources are also being flagged.
The recent incident could also show how groups and entities can control information within the Philippines' territory through other entities. Though it is claimed to have been caused by a system, at the end of the day, human intervention could still affect that system.
The mass flagging of posts from government organizations and officials over the weekend is a cause of concern for every Filipino and even the media. This is a potential threat to us. We call on Facebook to investigate this thoroughly and objectively. Our social media space is risky as it is already but with what happened, it is concerning.