News broke on June 1 that Facebook had deleted veteran journalist Ed Lingao’s May 24 post that criticized Duterte’s statement that he would allow the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Lingao said the post was deleted for allegedly violating Facebook’s “community standards.” A follow-up post documenting the comments he received from social media users was also deleted. Lingao posted an edited version of his original post but it was also taken down. Facebook restored it later, apologizing for the “mistake.” Lingao, however, was not the only affected Facebook user. Journalists Nonoy Espina and Inday Espina-Varona were barred from posting and commenting in their own Facebook accounts. Espina-Varona said “some other friends in the media, some artists and social activists” had also been suspended from using their account. The Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines’ (EJAP) official Facebook account, Ejap Pilipinas, was also taken down on June 4 for allegedly violating Facebook’s “authenticity policy.” On June 3, prior to the takedown, EJAP released a statement criticizing Duterte’s remarks about the killing of journalists. Following its removal, the statement circulated in other social media accounts and pages, including that of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
Source: Facebook takedown: Social media censorship in Philippines? – IFEX













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