The
Davao City mayor, like other candidates, took advantage of the platform offered
by Facebook to advance his campaign in the 2016 presidential elections, Harry
Roque said.
President
Rodrigo Duterte did not push fake news to win the presidential vote, his
spokesperson said, disputing an MSNBC report that his team went into overdrive
promoting fake news after a Facebook briefing in 2016.
According
to Roque, Mr. Duterte used the tools available to him during the campaign.
Mr.
Duterte has no policy of promoting fake news, Roque added.
“The technology exists and it would have been
foolhardy for any political candidate not to tap Facebook as a campaign tool.
All candidates did so,” he said.
“Unfortunately
for his detractors, President Duterte appeared to have been the best candidate
who utilized Facebook the most,” he added.
“But giving tips to a few campaigns in a
constitutional democracy can be different from giving tips to this
authoritarian, Duterte. And Facebook learned that quickly,” Melber said.
“In
fact, after his team got that Facebook briefing, his allies went into overdrive
pushing fake news and accounts, along with his wider campaigns. And that brings
us back—guess who—well, it’s the Pope,” he added.
“And
this is basically a kind of a sign that if you get a Pope endorsement, you are
the fake news candidate,” he stressed.
Pres.
Duterte earlier admitted that his team hired a social media team during the
campaign to promote and defend him online, but he said this was only during the
election period.
Roque
said the internet should be allowed to thrive and ideas should be shared on it
freely.
No comments:
Post a Comment