Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda urges Meta to further regulate Facebook content in the Philippines. He cited that harmful content including fake news and deepfakes in Facebook are spreading across other social media platforms.
Aguda spoke with Super Radyo DZBB on July 17, revealing he wrote a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He urged him to take action in reinforcing moderation for harmful content on the platform, needing urgent solutions.
Aguda requested for Meta to add more content moderation teams based in the Philippines. He believes this will aid in decreasing delays to remove toxic, disinformative content on Facebook.
‘Toxic na masyado ang laman ng Facebook, kaya kailangan linisin natin,’ said Aguda. ‘Marami pa ring umaasa sa Facebook para kumausap ‘yung mga kaibigan, kapamilya, maganda po ‘yun. Pero sana naman tanggalin natin ‘yung harmful effects,’ he added.
Translation: ‘The content on Facebook has become increasingly toxic,’ said Aguda. ‘Many Filipinos still rely on it to connect with family and friends, and that’s good. But, I hope we can remove its harmful effects,’ he added.
Facebook has over 90.8 million users in the Philippines as of early 2025 as the country’s biggest social media platform. However, journalists and researchers have reported on the widespread disinformation and propaganda present among Filipinos.
At a House hearing on online disinformation earlier in April, Meta representatives said individual users ‘bear the responsibility for what they post’. They directed people to Facebook’s Community Standards, which explicitly says they prohibit disinformation and adds labels on AI-generated content.
Aguda responded to this, saying countries like Brazil hold social media companies accountable for content posted on their platforms. Should Meta fail to act, Aguda warned that the Philippine government may consider suspending Facebook’s operations in the country.
We’ll update the story once more details are available as it’s still in development.
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