黑料社

MANILA , Philippines 鈥� Representative Sarah Elago faces a daily barrage of Facebook posts linking her to communist rebels trying to overthrow the government. She says the claims are false, but they could get her killed anyway.

A torrent of misinformation on the social media platform has put activists, journalists, politicians and lawyers in the firing line as President Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 government and military out alleged supporters of a decades-old Maoist insurgency.

Facebook鈥檚 reach into the smartphones used by millions of Filipinos has made it a powerful weapon in amplifying the accusations 鈥� known locally as 鈥渞ed-tagging鈥� 鈥� which critics say are part of a broader effort to silence dissent.

鈥淩ed-tagging is like an order to kill,鈥� said聽Elago, a representative of the Kabataan party-list group and an outspoken Duterte critic who watches her back in public for fear of being physically attacked.

In the past year her name has appeared in more than 14,000 public posts on Facebook that also mention the New People鈥檚 Army (NPA), the armed wing of the communist party, according to data from social media monitoring platform CrowdTangle.

AFP鈥檚 Fact Check team has debunked many of them, including one post on a pro-government page called 鈥淒uterte Fact 黑料社鈥�, which has more than 34,000 followers.

The post shows Elago in a police mugshot holding a charge card that accuses her of recruiting rebel fighters.聽AFP found the photo had been manipulated.

It was shared hundreds of times and drew comments calling for Elago to be killed or raped.

The most viral posts targeting Elago, generating tens of thousands of shares, were on the official page of Duterte鈥檚 National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Hundreds of others have been posted on Facebook pages claiming to be the official accounts of police stations across the country.

Red-tagging is not new in the Philippines. But rights groups say it has intensified under Duterte, whose brutal drug war and controversial anti-terrorism law have sown fear.

Hundreds of activists, journalists and lawyers have been killed since he was swept to power in 2016. Many died after being red-tagged, rights groups say.

鈥淚t is pretty much open season for anybody who criticizes the government, the military or the policies,鈥� said Carlos Conde of Human Rights Watch.

Propaganda war

While many of the red-tagged activist groups have ideological links with the communists, they were not involved in the armed struggle, Conde said.

But authorities claim they are acting as 鈥渓egal fronts鈥� for the rebels, funneling money and new recruits to the battlefield.

鈥淭here must be public awareness of these people who are trying to bring down the government,鈥� said National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon.

Asked why authorities don鈥檛 take suspected sympathizers to court if they have evidence of illegal activity, Esperon told AFP: 鈥淭here鈥檚 an easy solution to that. Why don鈥檛 they condemn the NPA.鈥�

For Duterte, a self-described socialist, the anti-communist campaign is an about-face from the start of his term when he sought a peace deal with the rebels.

Since talks collapsed in 2017, he has branded the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA 鈥渢errorist organizations鈥� and ordered soldiers to shoot female insurgents in the genitals.

Everyone is fair game.

A general recently warned actress Liza Soberano she could end up dead if she did not sever ties with a women鈥檚 rights group accused of having links with the guerilla movement. It sparked a public outcry and led to a Senate inquiry into red-tagging.

鈥淏eing branded a communist isn鈥檛 just mere labelling or shaming 鈥� it literally means arrest, detention or even death,鈥� said Luz Rimban of the Asian Center for Journalism at Ateneo de Manila University.

Cristina Palabay, head of rights group Karapatan, says she fears for her life after 13 of the watchdog鈥檚 members were killed under Duterte.

The most recent victim was Zara Alvarez, who was 鈥渉eavily red-tagged鈥� before she was gunned down in August.

Palabay said she no longer sleeps in the same location on consecutive nights, avoids shopping malls and even stopped visiting her parents after receiving anonymous death threats.

鈥淔rankly speaking, I fear that I鈥檒l be killed that way,鈥� Palabay said.

Only occasionally do authorities admit they got it wrong.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana sacked the country鈥檚 intelligence chief last month and ordered the military to apologize for content shared on an armed forces Facebook account.

The page had published an erroneous list of ex-university students it said were killed or captured after joining the NPA.

Calling out red-tagging

Filipinos are among the world鈥檚 heaviest users of social media, and the country has become a key battleground for fake news.

Most of the country鈥檚 73 million internet users have Facebook accounts, according to Britain-based media consultancy We Are Social.

Nearly all of them access the site on their mobile phones, where Facebook offers free access to a limited version of its platform and other selected websites.

That has turned the social media giant into the de facto internet provider for many users.

Given its influence, Facebook should be 鈥渕ore proactive鈥� when it comes to stopping the spread of disinformation, said Ellen Tordesillas of fact-checking group Vera Files.

The platform has cracked down on suspicious Philippine accounts several times since 2018, when it stepped up an offensive against misinformation.

Last year it took down a network linked to state security forces it accused of 鈥渃oordinated inauthentic behavior鈥�.

Asked about its policy on red-tagging, Facebook told AFP it removes content that 鈥渆xposes the identity of someone who is alleged to be a member of an 鈥榓t-risk鈥� group, where these allegations could lead to real life harm鈥�.

It would not say on the record if the NPA or communist party were considered 鈥渁t-risk鈥� groups.

Posts targeting Elago that 鈥渧iolated our community standards鈥� had been taken down, a spokesperson said.

Elago says no one has been held responsible for the threats against her, despite complaints to the police, military, human rights commission and Facebook.

But she refuses to be silenced.

鈥淩ed-tagging needs to be called out,鈥� she said.