29 January 2017
Mark Zuckerberg
CEO Facebook
1 Hacker Way
94025 Menlo Park
CA.
Dear Mr. Zuckberg:
I would like to bring to your attention, in behalf of the 20M or so Filipinos who voted for President Rodrigo R. Duterte, the brazen attempt at curbing freedom of speech on your social media platform, by his political detractors.
As you may well know by now, President Duterte's win in the Presidential election held last May 2016 was largely through the excellent social media strategy executed by his social media operatives. It was able to galvanize and harness the support of Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad, in making his platform of government known to potential and actual supporters which resulted in his coming out ahead of four other rivals for the post.
His detractors are composed mainly of the liberal intelligentsia elite in the Philippines coming from civil society and the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party was founded and controlled by the late father's of former President Benigno C. Aquino III and defeated Presidential candidate Manuel A. Roxas II.
Despite President Duterte's call for unity after his win at the polls, these detractors continue in their attempts to bring down his duly elected government. The efforts are being spearheaded in the United States by Loida Nicolas-Lewis, widow of Reginald Lewis of Beatrice TLC fame who is a staunch supporter of the Liberal Party.
It is for these reasons that there is a raging battle on Facebook for the hearts and minds of our fellow Filipinos as we struggle with the biased news coverage by local and foreign traditional media of President Duterte.
Presently, pro-Duterte Facebook pages and accounts are being mass reported by social media operatives identified with the Liberal Party for violations of your community standards. One page with over two million followers, Senyora Santibañez, has been taken down after being reported.
It is ironic and a first that the Opposition is exerting concerted efforts to silence the proponents of the Administration's media. They who hype up the fears of martial rule are the ones seeking to restrict free speech and silence dissension.
I hope that you will find merit in this appeal and understand how Facebook has become a powerful tool in our fight for a clean and honest government. The pro-Duterte elements on Facebook have not resorted to mass reporting of pages identified with social media operatives of the Liberal Party because we believe that our fellow Filipinos have a right to free speech and they should make their decision on whom to support based on the merits of the arguments.
Thank you and we hope that you will give this your immediate attention.
Yours truly,
Bryan Ng Co
source: Bryan Ng Co
Post a Comment