Senators on Wednesday criticized Meta for not quickly removing fake and harmful posts, pointing to a deepfake of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that has been circulating online for over a week.
Berni Moestafa, Meta’s public policy head for the Philippines and Indonesia, acknowledged awareness of the manipulated content and said its removal was in progress.
Senator Raffy Tulfo said the deepfake was uploaded on Feb. 2 and questioned why it had not been taken down immediately despite being clearly false.
“Why not take it down immediately? 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?” he posed.
Meta Philippines’ public policy lead Gio Tingson argued that the Department of Information and Communications Technology reported the URLs, which were promptly removed, but the content may have been reposted under different accounts.
The senator also raised concerns about other fake posts targeting him that remain online despite repeated takedown requests, contrasting Meta’s response with TikTok’s faster action.
Senator Robinhood Padilla, for his part, urged Meta to act decisively, noting that political content online affects both lawmakers and the president.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda explained that Meta’s revenue grows with higher viewership, and large followings translate into significant potential ad income. Meanwhile, TikTok acts faster because its ad revenue is smaller.
Aguda recommended that social media platforms maintain a local legal presence, implement a notice-and-action system with due process, and support the creation of a digital safety authority.
