THE House Tri-Committee investigating the spread of fake news has issued show cause orders to the Philippine offices of Facebook and TikTok following their absence from a recent congressional hearing on disinformation.
1RIDER Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez highlighted that the committee received a letter from White and Case on behalf of Meta, stating that Facebook Philippines was not authorized to receive the invitation.
“Just for the information of the body, we received the committees in receipt of a letter from Counsel from the US stating that META cannot be invited,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez emphasized that, similar to Google Philippines’ participation despite being part of an international entity, Facebook Philippines should have attended the hearing.
“Although Google and Alphabet is international, Google Philippines chose to appear. So I think, Mr. Chair, this would not stand po as a reason for Facebook Philippines not to attend,” he added.
Consequently, Gutierrez moved to issue a show cause order to Facebook Philippines.
“Given that they have failed to substantiate the reason for their absence, may I move, Mr. Chair, that the show cause order be issued for Facebook Philippines?” he said.
Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop sought clarification on the entities to be issued show cause orders, suggesting an omnibus approach.
“Could you please enumerate the platforms that would be issued at show cause order? Altogether na lang po, Mr. Chair, omnibus,” Acop said.
Gutierrez then addressed the absence of ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, which had sent a letter citing an unsubstantiated engagement in Singapore as the reason for non-attendance.
“They’ve sent a letter to the committee stating that they could not appear due to an engagement in Singapore. Unfortunately, the engagement was not substantiated,” he said.
He proposed issuing show cause orders to both ByteDance Philippines and Facebook Philippines.
“I’d like to move that the show cause Order be issued to ByteDance, Philippines, or the invitee here po na, sa email ‘to, and to Facebook, Philippines, Mr. Chair,” Gutierrez stated.
For clarity, Gutierrez specified the individuals to whom the orders should be addressed:
“As the Comm Sec just inform me now to include po in the motion the specific person. So for ByteDance, Philippines, that is Ms. Peachy Paderna. And for Meta platforms or in the case of Facebook Philippines, this is Mr. Genixon David,” Gutierrez said.
The Tri Comm, comprising the Committees on Public Order and Safety, on Information and Communications Technology, and on Public Information, is intensifying its investigation into the spread of disinformation and fake news online.
The recent hearing aimed to assess the role of social media platforms in the dissemination of misleading content and to explore potential regulatory measures.
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