Palace opposes Facebook partners in countering fake news
Malacanang opposed on Monday Facebook's decision to have Rappler and Vera Files as its partners in monitoring fake news being posted on the social media site.
In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said he agreed Facebook's effort is the right move to counter fake news instead of legislation.
"However, there are those who are complaining that the chosen police of the truths so to speak are sometimes partisan themselves. And of course this is the problem with truth that can be subjective depending on your political perspective," he said.
"And that is why I commiserate with those who object to the selection of Rappler and Vera Files, because they know, we know where they stand in the political spectrum," Roque stressed.
Rappler and Vera Files are both critical to the Duterte administration.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's order revoking Rappler's license has been pending before the Court of Appeals.
Some of the sites that FB has deleted were pro-Duterte because they allegedly carry fake news.
For those FB accounts that were removed, Roque advised them to allow FB about the need for a "more partial arbiter of the truth."
"My advice is for the Facebook users to make their wishes known to Facebook and of course the possibility of shifting is always there. Of course, there’s the worldwide movement to delete Facebook not just because of their moves in the Philippines, but because also of privacy concerns," Roque added. Celerina Monte/DMS
