Social media giant Facebook has pledged to take down accounts that engage in terrorist activities.
In a statement sent to The STAR, Facebook said it follows a strict set of community standards to ensure that users are provided with a service where people feel safe.
“Our Community Standards do not allow groups or people that engage in terrorist activity, or posts that express support for terrorism. Fake accounts are also prohibited,” Facebook said.
“We will remove accounts and content that violate these policies when we are made aware of them.”
Facebook issued the statement after the Armed Forces of the Philippines called for the removal of at least 63 accounts of Maute terrorists and their sympathizers.
“We would also like to appeal to Facebook Philippines… to undertake the necessary measures to investigate the 63 Facebook accounts that are being utilized by the Maute local terrorist group and sympathizers,” the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry Division spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera said.
Herrera said the accounts are spreading malicious information that affects the mindset of Filipinos.
Among those disseminated online using these accounts was a video of the terrorists smashing statues in a Catholic church in Marawi City.
Independence Day hacking
While the country celebrated its 119th Independence Day yesterday, a group of hackers called AnonGhostPH defaced websites of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) as well as several government websites in Mindanao and the private sector.
The LLDA homepage, www.llda.gov.ph, contained a black background and showed the messages “OPERATION INDEPENDENCE DAY,” “STOP! THE MARTIAL LAW NOW” and “AnonGhostPH.”
As of yesterday evening, the LLDA website has remained down.
The websites of the local government of Sta. Cruz town in Davao del Sur, the Davao Regional Medical Center and private company Ayala Property have also been defaced, according to a television report.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said it has not received any complaint about the defacement.
Weak private web-hosting
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said yesterday’s hacking of the four websites showed the weakness of private web-hosting providers.
The department’s undersecretary for special concerns Eliseo Rio told The STAR that three of the four hacked websites were of government agencies that had not availed themselves of the more secure government web-hosting services. – (J. Mateo/G. Ong with R.Allan Ronda. PS)