Grace Poe denies pushing to block Facebook in PHL

Senator Grace Poe on Thursday denied that she was pushing to block social media giant Facebook in the Philippines.

“Yan ang fake news. Hindi totoo yan. First of all, that’s counterproductive… Mali. Yun talaga ang disinformation,” Poe said in a press statement.

Poe was referring to posts featuring a video that she said was spliced to make it appear that she wanted Facebook blocked in the country.

She said this was an attempt to discredit her and the ongoing hearings of the Senate committee on public information and mass media on the spread of fake news.

Poe during a Senate hearing on Wednesday warned how social media was being used to proliferate misinformation.

“What we don’t know or refuse to recognize is that Facebook can act like an echo chamber, reflecting back only news that you like,” Poe said.

“Ang problema, dahil paulit-ulit na lang ang nakikita natin, hindi na tayo nagiging mapanuri. Tinatanggap na lang natin ang impormasyon kasi inaakala natin na yun din ang pinaniniwalaan ng karamihan ng tao na nakapaligid sa atin,” she added.

In the statement, Poe said her team posted the original in her Facebook page to allow the public to know the truth behind the spliced video.

"We’ve come up also with our own video of the proceedings, kasi it [video circulating online] was spliced. If you’re conscientious enough and you really want to find the truth,…kasi kapag ayaw mong malaman ang katotohanan madali namang kalimutan yan,” Poe said.

Poe said blocking Facebook in the Philippines would spark a revolution among netizens who use the popular social network.

“Not that we’re going to do this. I’ll be the first to disagree if they do. But let’s say, can you block a particular company like Facebook from being accessed in the Philippines?" Poe said, asking a law expert on the reach of government online last Tuesday.

"Of course that would spark a revolution and we know that. But what I’m saying is this: They’re banking on their popularity but we should also assert their accountability to us,” she added.

Poe said the Senate committee will issue subpoenas to Facebook and search engine Google to its next hearing for them to explain their "algorithms."

“What we’re trying to do is how we can encourage Facebook to be able to cooperate with us,” the lawmaker said.

Meanwhile, Poe urged the public to be more critical of the information they see online and "cross-check" facts from lies.

“We should be able to inform the citizens that they should be able to cross-check information that they get online," she said. —NB, GMA News