ASEANEWS’ HEADLINE: ‘YES TO FB FACT-CHECKERS, NO TO RAPPLER-PALACE’ – Tuesday, April 17, 2018
ASEANEWS HEADLINE: Palace lauds Facebook’s fact-checking efforts, protests selection of third-party arbiters
Malacañang welcomed the initiative of social media platform Facebook to prevent the spread of false information but protested its selection of two supposed anti-Duterte entities to do the fact-checking.
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In this photo illustration, a Facebook l ogo on a computer screen is seen through a magnifying glass held by a woman in Bern.(REUTERS/Thomas Hodel / MANILA BULLETIN)
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Facebook announced this week that it has picked online news agencies Rappler and Vera Files for a third-party fact-checking program in the Philippines to prevent false information from spreading on the social media platform.
Both online news agencies were certified through a nonpartisan International Fact-Checking Network and will review news stories on Facebook, check their facts, and rate their accuracy.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque lauded the decision of Facebook to launch a third-party fact-checking program, saying this is the solution to curb the spread of fake news in the platform.
However, he also expressed concern on the selection of Rappler and Vera Files to do the deed.
“I would say that the efforts of Facebook to counter fake news is the solution and not legislation,” he said in the Palace press briefing this morning.
“However, there are those complaining that the chosen police of the truth, so to speak, are sometimes partisan themselves. Of course the problem with truth can be subjective, depending on your political perspective,” he added.
“That is why I commiserate with those who object the selection of Rappler and Vera Files because we know where they stand in the political spectrum,” he continued.
The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) also lauded Facebook’s third party fact-checking program in the Philippines and vowed support to Facebook’s initiative.
“We give our all-out support to them in their efforts to combat the creation and spread of false news that have poisoned our shared space and dumbed down, if not encouraged, vicious discourse in our online community—and that has served no one in any good way,” PCOO Undersecretary for New Media Lorraine Badoy said in a statement.
However, Badoy said the PCOO is also protesting the selection of Rappler and Vera Files as fact-checkers and will ask Facebook about it when they meet soon.
“We would also like to register our protest at the choice of fact-checkers by Facebook and this will be on the agenda when we finally get to sit with them soon,” she said.
“Efforts are underway for both the PCOO and Facebook to sit across the table and discuss and hopefully, reach agreements that will get us closer to our shared goal of responsible and intelligent use of social media,” she added.
Duterte supporters’ websites blocked
Only recently, Facebook has also blocked websites that were reported to be containing false information. However, most of them were supportive of the President, even bearing Duterte’s name in their Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).
According to Roque, Facebook users should make their opposition to the move heard.
“When I was asked earlier what should be done, well, the users of Facebook should make known their wishes to Facebook itself, that there should be a more partial arbiter of the truth,” he said.
However, Facebook’s decision to partner with Rappler and Vera Files, was not taken well by Duterte’s supporters, more commonly known as the DDS. This prompted them to shift to Russian-based social media platform VKontakte, more popularly known as VK.
Roque said there’s nothing wrong with the DDS’ decision to shift to VK, saying they are free to do anything they want to express their sentiments over the Internet.
“It’s the free marketplace of ideas. My advice is for the Facebook users to make their wishes known to Facebook. And of course, the possibility of shifting is always there,” he said.
“There is a worldwide movement to delete Facebook, not just because of their moves in the Philippines, but because also of privacy concerns,” he added.
Recently, Facebook has been under fire for the breach of the data of 87 million of its users. The data, collected by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica starting 2014, was used to influence voter opinion during the 2016 United States election.
Facebook has apologized with founder Mark Zuckerberg admitting to Congress that it was his personal mistake that he did not do enough to prevent the social media platform from being used for harm. / Updated By Argyll Geducos
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