Facebook has allowed pages to expand the reach of their red-tagging content in exchange for money, based on the recent Amnesty International report.
The finding cites that one Facebook page engaged in red-tagging was able to reach 6,000-7,000 users for as little as ₱100–₱199.
The investigation revealed that the rise of online red-tagging is connected to Meta’s Facebook platform influencing public discourse, however, Meta fails to reduce risks and threats to human rights defenders, moderate content, manage advertisement approval mechanisms, and track the effectiveness of risk mitigation measures
“Over the years, red-tagging has been used to instigate direct threats and attacks on those who criticize and oppose the government and Meta is playing an enabling role in this,” Amnesty International stated.
One youth activist pointed out that reporting red-tagging content is ‘pointless’ and ‘futile,’ where even organized collective mass reporting had not led to making a difference in the attacks.
According to a May 2024 decision of the Supreme Court, red-tagging refers to an act of intimidation to “discourage subversive activities,” and threat to a person’s constitutional right to life, liberty, and security.
Under the previous Duterte administration, he implemented the Anti-Terrorism Act to execute ‘enemies of the state’ and focused on “protecting life, liberty, and property from acts of terrorism’.
However, the law was used to silence and target government opposition.
“Online red-tagging was very noticeable under the Duterte administration because, pre-pandemic it was the trolls commenting, and then suddenly during the pandemic it became online red-tagging,” said one male activist from Baguio City.
Holding accountable
Amnesty’s head of advocacy and mobilization, Wilnor Papa, pushes the owner of Facebook to act on the issue, including the Philippine government and the public to mitigate posts against red-tagging.
“Inadequate content moderation and ad approval mechanisms, and a failure to track the effectiveness of its risk mitigation measures, have turned Facebook into an enabling environment that contributes to serious human rights violations,” cites Wilnor Papa, Amnesty International Head of Advocacy and Mobilization
During the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, red-tagging intensified due to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) formed in 2018.
However, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has refused to abolish the NTF-ELCAC, arguing that ‘it is not the government that’s red-tagging.’
Some lawmakers and Amnesty International already noted that the NTF-ELCAC is a ‘breeding ground’ of red-tagging and accusing youth groups of recruiting Filipinos to join communist groups, where it frequently posts memes, statements, articles, and misinformation and disinformation.
“The Philippine authorities must immediately stop their repressive red-tagging campaign, repeal the ATA and cease any form of intimidation, harassment, threats or attacks against human rights activists. They must also abolish NTF-ELCAC and promptly conduct an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into its activities,” said Damini Satija, director of Amnesty Tech.
Under Duterte’s presidency, red-tagging activists became a “widespread, cheap and effective” method to harass critics during the COVID-19 lockdown, especially as most people switched to the internet as a source of information.
Truth Telling?
The NTF-ELCAC mandates that it is ‘none of their business’ to red-tag and is only engaging to protect vulnerable sectors against recruitment attempts by communist groups.
According to NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres Jr., they are ‘not red-tagging’ and they are ‘truth-telling.’
“‘We respect legitimate activism as a crucial part of our democracy. However, there is a line between advocacy and recruitment into terrorism. NTF-ELCAC is dedicated to exposing those organizations that serve the interests of the CPP-NPA-NDF, to protect our youth from being misled,” he added.
He also emphasized that their primary mission is to safeguard the public, particularly the youth, from deceptive recruitment practices linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples’ Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
Torres also added that NTF-ELCAC is committed to transparency and public safety, where the government offers peaceful avenues for addressing grievances, including local peace initiatives.
