Nelson Morales

Meta urged to take down deepfake of Marcos, act swiftly on fake and malicious posts

Article (news)

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Senators scored Meta, formerly Facebook, for being slow in taking down posts that are fake and malicious, pointing out that a deepfake of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been circulating online for more than a week.Berni Moestafa, Head of Meta’s Public Policy in the Philippines and Indonesia, said they are aware of the manipulated post.“For this particular content, I think it’s already been in process,” Moestafa said during Wednesday’s hearing of the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media about false content and fake news, among other topics.Moestafa’s reply did not sit well with Senator Raffy Tulfo, who said that the deepfake was posted on February 2.“Why not take it down immediately?” Tulfo said. “You know for a fact that that’s a lie, that’s fake news. Why would the President of the Republic of the Philippines be disrespected like this, and you allow it?”  “You know that’s a lie, but you said there’s a process before this will be taken down? Shame on you!” he added.Atty. Gio Tingson, Meta’s Head of Public Policy Philippines, said, “Nireport po ito sa amin ng DICT and upon reporting all the links, the URLs that had this content were immediately taken down. We did a sweep, an initial sweep after it was first taken down. Posible po na na-repost po ito with a different account.”Tulfo said, however, that they still see the deepfake on Facebook. Tingson asked for the links and committed to immediately remove the malicious posts.Tulfo also complained about fake posts about him, which have still not been taken down despite repeated requests to Meta. He compared it to TikTok, which he said was swift to respond.Senator Robinhood Padilla, chairperson of the committee, urged Meta to act.“This country is very political, and what is being done to us is not only happening to us. Even the President is being attacked politically,” Padilla said.Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda explained the business model of Meta.“Siyempre kapag maraming nanonood ng isang bagay, mas makakapagbenta ka ng ad revenue. Ito po ay pagsasaliksik lang namin, sa bawat ten views po kumikita sila ng piso. Kaya po kung lalo na sa inyo, Mr. Senator, 20 million followers, kapag 20 million ang tumingin sa inyo, P20 million kaagad ang kinita nila in potential ad views,” Aguda explained referring to Tulfo.Aguda said Tiktok is faster in taking down because its ad revenues are not as big.Aguda gave a couple of suggestions for the committee report, including having mandatory local legal presence in social media platforms, having a notice and action mechanism with due process, and creating a digital safety authority.

Berni Moestafa, Head of Meta’s Public Policy in the Philippines and Indonesia, said they are aware of the manipulated post.

Berni Moestafa, Head of Meta’s Public Policy in the Philippines and Indonesia, said they are aware of the manipulated post.