Malacañang believes that none of the fake accounts taken down by Facebook are accounts managed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“We have to believe the Armed Forces of the Philippines when they said that they have no official pages taken down by Facebook,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual Palace briefing.

Roque said government officials also have the freedom to air their sentiments.

“You know, even government officials do have freedom of expression. What is prohibited is if this is done in official mediums maintained by the Republic of the Philippines,” he said.

He also noted that code of conduct extends to government officials’ social media accounts.

Facebook earlier took down over 100 fake accounts linked to police and military units for involvement in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook cybersecurity policy chief, claimed that the fake accounts revolved around criticism of the opposition, activism, and communism.

The accounts have been most active when talks about the Anti-Terrorist Act of 2020 started last year, he said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) tagged as “unofficial and unauthorized” comments, opinions of individuals and groups not related to the agency’s activities.

Likewise, the AFP said all of the military’s social media accounts are “up and running”.

Roque expressed hope that Facebook would exercise prudence in taking down accounts.

“We hope the social media giant would exercise prudence in all its actions to remove any doubt of bias given its power, influence and reach,” Roque said in a statement on Wednesday.

Roque said the taking down of the fake accounts is a matter that the government leaves to the “sound judgement and discretion” of the popular global social networking firm.

“We are one in advocating the truth and dismissing disinformation, lies or hatred,” he said. (PNA)