Julia Christine Botin

PCO chief: Government must regulate social media platforms to combat 'fake news'

Article (news)

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Jay Ruiz said government must regulate social media platforms to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation.Ruiz said this during the House Tri Committee&#x27;s fifth hearing into &quot;fake news&quot; when Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop asked if the best way to combat disinformation is through government regulation.&quot;Wouldn&#x27;t it be better na hayaan natin ang mga social media platforms to self-regulate?&quot; Acop asked.Ruiz said platforms are already practicing self-regulation through their community standards and that &quot;it has to be the government who should give the standards.&quot;He said platforms must be held accountable for the spread of misinformation and disinformation as he likened it to bars making sure patrons do not cause trouble.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/3/24/wrap-congress-leans-toward-regulation-punishment-amid-probe-into-disinformation-1613">• Congress leans toward regulation, punishment amid probe into disinformation </a></div>&quot;Dapat yung pagpasok sa bar, kayo nag-checheck kung tama ba yung information na ito. At kung hindi mo magawa yan, hindi mo ma-self-regulate sarili mo, ipa-regulate mo sa iba,&quot; Ruiz added. (It should be that once they enter the &#x27;bar&#x27;, the platforms check if users are giving correct information. And if you can&#x27;t do that, you let someone else regulate it)Platforms like Facebook have had to tread the line between regulation and censorship. Facebook has third-party fact-checkers to vet questionable content, which get a warning label but are not automatically removed from the platform.  <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/1/10/meta-s-fact-check-pivot-to-hit-orgs-in-ph-global-south-worst-experts-1549">• Meta’s fact-check pivot to hit orgs in PH, ‘Global South’ worst — experts </a></div><div>REGULATIONS IN SINGAPORE, EU</div>The PCO chief said Singapore has a regulation against misinformation and disinformation since 2019, which the platforms follow.In compliance with Singapore&#x27;s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, Meta may, at the government&#x27;s request, limit a post&#x27;s reach or indicate it has been &quot;marked as false&quot; by government.&quot;As a neutral platform, Instagram does not endorse the truthfulness of either the content which is the subject of the government correction, or the government correction itself,&quot; Meta says in an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/347142134231397/?helpref=uf_share&amp;_rdr">explanation of its compliance with POFMA</a>.Ruiz reiterated the need for a law to regulate and penalize platforms that allow the spread of &#x27;fake news&#x27;, similar to that of the European Union, which requires large platforms to audit and disclose &quot;systemic risks&quot; that threaten civil discourse, election integrity, and human rights.The EU’s Digital Services Act also requires platforms to restrict content that violates their terms of services or the laws of an EU member state, <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/article/eu-digital-services-act-win-transparency">according to US think tank Freedom House</a>.Authors of flagged content can appeal the restriction or revise their posts.While Freedom House called DSA a win for transparency, it also warned that it could lead to &quot;excessive removal of people’s content&quot; and that governments could use it to try &quot;to remove content protected by international human rights standards.&quot;Ruiz said Thursday that &quot;with the absence of a law, first off defining what fake news is, penalties, studies, wala tayong mapanghawakan (we have nothing to hold on to),&quot; he said.He said that platforms must be held liable for allowing &quot;fake news&quot; into their communities.<div><a href="http://NBI investigating around 20 individuals over &#x27;fake news&#x27;">• NBI investigating around 20 individuals over &#x27;fake news&#x27; </a></div><div>DICT: PLATFORMS WANT LAW REGULATING THEM</div>Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda agreed that platforms should be held responsible but acknowledged they have mechanisms to check content of posts and take down those with prohibited words.&quot;Kung pumasok kayo sa mall, yung mamimili bumili ng fake, kasalanan ng mall yun. Hindi dapat sila nagpapapasok ng fake. Sa akin po ang responsibilidad diyan ang platform,&quot; Aguda also said.(If you go into a mall and you buy a fake item, the mall is to blame. They should not have let fake items in. So, for me, the responsibility is on the platform)Aguda believes the platforms should be more strict in self-regulation.&quot;We&#x27;re not asking for special treatment in the Philippines, we just want them to fairly implement their standards,&quot; Aguda said.He also said that the platforms themselves &quot;want the government to put up a law to regulate them&quot; and have asked for a law defining &quot;fake news&quot;, the common term for misinformation and disinformation.,&quot;Pag malinaw definition sa batas, i-program nila sa kanilang sistema nila na immediately ma-tatake down,&quot; he said.(If it is clearly defined in law, they just program their system to immediately take it down)Google Philippines Government Affairs and Public Policy Head Atty. Yves Gonzalez agreed that platforms have a certain responsibility.&quot;For things that are in the control of the platform, we would take accountability for that,&quot; he said.The House Tri Committee is expected to release a committee report following the termination of its hearings, including proposed legislation seeking to impose new obligations on social media platforms, penalties for noncompliance and measures to curb the spread of disinformation. — with Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News

Ruiz said platforms are already practicing self-regulation through their community standards and that "it has to be the government who should give the standards."

Ruiz said platforms are already practicing self-regulation through their community standards and that "it has to be the government who should give the standards."