黑料社

A university professor publicly aired her grievance on identity theft after Facebook has dismissed her complaints and request on shutting down a fake account.

Marikit Tara Alto Uychoco on Sunday, May 6 that she has been appealing for Facebook to take down an account named 鈥淯yChoco Alto Marikit Tara鈥� which she claims was created after she went on a Facebook hiatus.

Uychoco is an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman and has authored books on communication and literature.

The full name the fake account uses is the same as that found in her legal documents, Uychoco said.

Initially, her complaints worked. She narrated, 鈥淚 reported it to Facebook immediately after it came to my attention, and for a while, the profile was gone, helped by my friends who had reported it, and by those who had personally messaged the fake person.鈥�

鈥淭oday, however, Facebook has emailed me to say that that, 鈥榃e reviewed the profile your friend reported and found that it isn鈥檛 pretending to be you and doesn鈥檛 go against our community standards.鈥� As I write, the fake person has their profile up on Facebook again,鈥� she noted.

黑料社 has reached out to Facebook Asia vice president Dan Neary and Philippines country director John Rubio for comment. No reply has been given as of this writing.

Uychoco said she intends to visit the Facebook Philippines office in Metro Manila to ask for assistance on the issue.

鈥淚 will bring my identification papers and my irate self 鈥� because I am sick and tired of the abuses that Facebook has done to me, and to the Philippines, as well,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭here is such a thing as corporate accountability, and if they don鈥檛 take this person鈥檚 Facebook profile down, I will sue them for criminal negligence and being an accessory to fraud.鈥�

She stressed, 鈥淚t is about time that someone stands up to these people who create fake accounts, manage troll farms, and manufacture fake news and fake people for political ends.鈥�

In another Facebook , Uychoco detailed the steps she and her friends have already taken to rectify the problem; all these steps apparently failed.

The impostor鈥檚 account has also allegedly admitted to being fake and that the person behind it wants to change the name but has to wait 20 days. S/he has also refused to delete the account听蹿辞谤聽the reason that it had 鈥渟omething important.鈥�

Uychoco believes she was targeted for identity theft because of her political beliefs. 鈥淥ne, my textbooks have an Anti-Marcos slant. Two, I have engaged in a post against this government鈥檚 鈥榙ubious drug war without legal processes鈥�. That鈥檚 the price of being a thinking person who tries to do her civic duty in educating people.鈥�

She noted that raising someone鈥檚 ire could lead them to dig up information on you outside of Facebook. Uychoco revealed, 鈥淭he first time they did this to me, I didn鈥檛 use my complete name on FB and my first imposter found out my complete name and used it.鈥�

The same has been done to her sister after she interacted with one such 鈥渢roll鈥�: 鈥淧retty scary too, because the fake account is using her childhood nickname.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 nobody. I鈥檓 not a media personality, I鈥檓 not a celebrity, I鈥檓 not an influencer. I鈥檓 just a real person caught in a platform made up of real and fake people,鈥� Uychoco said.

Facebook has come under attack locally and internationally for issues on data privacy and fake news. Last April, the social media company partnered with two local media outlets to fact-check fake news shared on the platform. JB

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