Facebook user is responsible for content; Meta just a neutral platform —official

An official of Meta, the technology company that operates Facebook, said Tuesday that the user is ultimately responsible for the content he or she posts because Meta is a neutral platform.

Rafael Frankel, Meta’s director for public policy in Southeast Asia, made the response during the House Tri Committee hearing on the proliferation of false information online.

Frankel was responding to the question of Antipolo Representative Romeo Acop if Meta bears a certain responsibility for the content posted on Facebook that harms the subject of misinformation.

“Sir, every individual user bears the ultimate responsibility for what he or she posts on our platforms. I think that it is important to underline that point. That's a given. [And] we very much believe that we have a responsibility to provide a safe platform for our users around the world, including in the Philippines,” Frankel said .

Pressed for a categorical answer, Frankel maintained that Meta’s obligation is exerting maximum efforts in observing the constitutional right to freedom of speech and providing safety at the same time.

“Our responsibility is to make sure that we are doing the best we can to balance between voice and safety,” Frankel said.

Acop then questioned Frankel if technology companies and other social media platforms like Meta should tolerate misinformation.

Frankel however argued that it is not for Facebook to determine which content is classified as misinformation.

“I want to just emphasize the point that people disagree. We are in a world right now when people disagree on what's true and what's not true. I'm trying to explain to the committee, Mr. Congressman, that the approach we have is based on remaining a neutral platform that tries our best, in very difficult circumstances, in very robust democracies like the Philippines where there are very charged political debates going on... we do our best to balance freedom of expression on the one hand and safety on the other,” Frankel said.

“Our view on the best way to do that [balance] is to rely on third parties to make the determination when it comes to true or false or somewhere in between. And we think that that's the best way forward. And Mr. Congressman, actually, I would say I don't think you necessarily want us to be the ones that determine what's true and false. I don't think you would want us to undertake that kind of response, that kind of power, basically,” he added.

Frankel said that the third party fact checkers for the Philippines are Rappler news website, Vera Files and French wire news agency Agence France-Presse.

“This is [done] in a democratic system. This is kind of the best balance we can possibly strike when it comes to trying to moderate these types of issues on our platforms in the type of context that we have in  the lead-up to an election for example,” Frankel said.

Still, Frankel said that Meta takes content moderation very seriously and as exemplified by 11 different channels between the government and Meta platforms to address any type of misinformation or other harmful content.

“We undertake network disruptions if we see that there's a coordinated abusive pattern when it comes to misinformation or disinformation or any type of foreign interference. We continue to lean on that posture and on that [neutral] approach as the best way that we can support the community that we have here in the Philippines,” Frankel said.

Acop, however, said that Meta should not be content in just playing neutral host to any content.

“I disagree with the impression that acting merely as host of user-generated content exempts this platform from any liability for the harmful content they allow to be exhibited. As part of our legislative duties, I think it may be time to revisit the current legal framework regarding the use of the platform, if only to incentivize them to further crackdown on these types of illegal posts,” Acop added. —KG, GMA Integrated News