Presidential Communications Office chief Jay Ruiz asked lawmakers to enact a European Union-like Digital Services Act which will ban publication of harmful information online if the social media platforms refuse to self-regulate and take these down.
During Friday’s House Tri-Committee inquiry into disinformation, Ruiz said social media platforms such as Meta, Tiktok, and Youtube do not maintain local offices, and coordinating with them on harmful posts can be difficult.
“So we have to focus on the platforms, first of all, to self-regulate, if you [social media platforms] want self-regulation. Or maybe come up with an operational system between the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology), and government to identify these fake posts, to identify fake information,” he told congressmen.
“What do we want on the PCO side? We urge Congress to join our digital crusade against combating fake news by strengthening our laws by introducing internationally accepted policies and standards for content moderation on social media. I respectfully encourage our lawmakers to consider the framework of the Digital Services Act, a recently adopted EU regulation which prevents illegal and harmful activities, disinformation online while still ensuring that the freedom of expression is upheld,” Ruiz said.
During the Tri-Comm’s third hearing on malicious online content, the government’s chief communicator lamented that the nation is being divided by disinformation, misinformation, and fake news.
“What is happening to us right now is we are being polarized, being divided online. Filipinos are being pitted against Filipinos,” Ruiz pointed out.
“Lies, repeated a thousand times, becomes the truth. We have to fight lies with truth. The voice of truth should be louder than lies,” he added.
Meanwhile, several pro-Duterte vloggers and “influencers” also attended the Tri-Comm hearing after they failed to convince the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on their mandated attendance to the congressional investigation into fake news and online disinformation.
Among those who attended were former PCOO chief Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Krizette Laureta Chu, Ahmed Paglinawan, Elizabeth Joie Cruz, Ethel Pineda Garcia, Mark Anthony Lopez, Mary Jane Quiambao Reyes, Marc Louie Gamboa and Richard Tesoro Mata.
The content creators had previously refused to appear before the House, arguing that the inquiry violated their right to free speech.
They earlier filed a petition before the SC, claiming that the congressional investigation was unconstitutional and unfairly targeted them for expressing political views, particularly in support of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
During the same hearing, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) told lawmakers that a task force has been formed to audit social media influencers for tax registration compliance and tax payments.
Lawyer Ron Mikhail Uy, who represented the BIR, said the BIR “has already created a specialized body…a task force dedicated to investigating social media influencers, and consequently for issuing letters of authority for further tax audit.”
He proceeded to explain the difficulty of running after these taxpayers.
“We have investigated their accounts and most of them are registered indeed. But considering that they use their… they are not a company, your honor. Some of the influencers’ names are similar to other taxpayers. One of them has been tagged for 17-18 names,” Uy said.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested a Cebu-based online content creator who falsely made it appear that President Marcos was advocating for the legalization of narcotics.
The NBI-Central Visayas Regional Office said their routine “cyber patrolling” revealed that the unnamed suspect altered a post on Marcos’ quotes published by News5.
Authorities later identified and arrested the uploader of the malicious post, who said she had been vlogging for three years.
“She [the arrested vlogger] owns a sari-sari [neighborhood] store but she admitted that she earns more from vlogging,’ NBI Director Jaime Santiago said in Filipino.
“We arrested her immediately to serve as a warning to those spreading fake news, and those who alter the news. We’re not stopping. We are seriously considering this now,” he added.