Palace sues ‘Malasakit News Pilipinas’ over fake ‘lockdown’ report
Making good on Malacañang’s threat, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Dave Gomez on Tuesday filed cyberlibel charges against the administrators of the Facebook page “Malasakit News Pilipinas” for saying that the government was about to impose an emergency lockdown.
Appearing before the Department of Justice (DOJ), Gomez said the page had posted a number of fake news items “in a malicious desire to sow public panic and confusion and undermine public welfare and safety.”
‘Energy lockdown’
The PCO asked the DOJ to investigate at least three fake news posts published by the Facebook page, identify the persons behind it, and “bring them to court on behalf of the Filipino people to answer for the harm they have caused the public.”
The posts claimed that there would be an “energy lockdown” due to a “fuel shortage,” which Malacañang said was intended to scam the public into buying solar panels and hoarding gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas.
The PCO also wanted to know the persons who had spread fake news about another kind of emergency lockdown, one supposedly prompted by COVID-19 Cicada variant, even though the Department of Health had monitored no such case in the country.
“All these posts are blatant lies and fabrications that fall under the definition of false news,” Gomez told reporters.
The Palace official warned that the crime could lead to imprisonment for the administrators of the FB page. Cyberlibel in the country carries a prison term of up to eight years.
“We are submitting to the DOJ the results of our initial investigation so that they can conduct a more thorough probe, identify the culprits and file the proper charges in court,” Gomez said.
Bots, fake accounts
An Inquirer analysis found that Malasakit News Pilipinas was created only on March 7 and had since gained 13,000 followers, almost all of which are bots, fake accounts and abandoned Facebook accounts with little or no activity.
To draw engagements, it has posted video reels of unverified information, including announcements of nationwide brownouts, incentives for students and cash assistance.
The supposed reports are delivered by artificial intelligence-generated “newscasters.”
