Philippine Revolution Web Central
Communist Party of the Philippines
11 April 2017
On April 8, Facebook took down the PRWC page http://fb.com/PhilippineRevolutionWebCentral which has served as one of the social media platform of the CPP and the Philippine revolutionary movement. This is clearly a case of Facebook censorship and intolerance, contrary to its declared principles of “diversity” and its espousal of an “open and connected world.”
We are demanding Facebook to bring back the PRWC page, all its posts and its community of more than 10,000 Followers.
It is highly likely that the social media attacks against the CPP is being coordinated by the Philippine and US governments. The Facebook takedown is not the only attack against the PRWC’s social media organization. Two days after the PRWC FB Page takedown, the PRWC’s Instagram account, where images of the Philippine revolution are posted, was also deleted without warning or explanation.
This act of censorship against the CPP is not an isolated case. Other revolutionary or progressive organizations and personalities have been arbitrarily taken down as well by Facebook.
We hope you could also help us generate public awareness of the issue of Facebook censorship of the CPP. Below is the open letter of the PRWC to Facebook
and the Facebook Philippines.
In the meantime, we ask the Philippine mass media and the alternative media movement in the country to Like and Follow the protest page http://fb.com/prwc_info to continue to receive information from the CPP, the NPA
and other revolutionary forces.
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OPEN LETTER TO FACEBOOK AND FACEBOOK PHILIPPINES
Dear Facebook and Facebook Philippines,
Despite our efforts over the past days to communicate with Facebook, we have received no reply to our demand for an explanation or information why the PRWC page (http://fb.com/PhilippineRevolutionWebCentral) was taken down last April 8.
Contrary to its declared its mission “to make the world more open and connected” and be a platform of “diversity of (a) global community,” Facebook has practically censored the CPP and the Philippine revolutionary Left, at a time that the PRWC has succeeded in building a considerable community within Facebook.
The takedown of the PRWC’s FB page was carried out just after it had exposed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for churning out fake news in the mass media and social media. In particular, the PRWC page exposed as fake news the claims of the AFP of armed encounters with the New People’s Army (NPA) to justify the killings of unarmed peasants in the countryside and widespread violations of human rights.
The PRWC takedown was carried out right after it had just exposed and resisted as well the efforts of the US-supported military and defense establishment to spoil the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) representing the revolutionary forces.
Over the past months, the PRWC page has served as a communication tool to convey to the public the views of the CPP as well as daily news of the struggles of the broad Filipino masses for social justice and peace.
It would seem that the PRWC page, as an information platform for the CPP and revolutionary Left, has become less tolerable to the purveyors of fake news after it had built a considerable community of more than 10,000 Likes and Followers. The horde of paid trolls of the AFP, which have targetted the PRWC page non-stop, have become less effective in overwhelming the PRWC page with their cuss-filled hate posts against the CPP and the revolutionary forces.
The takedown of the PRWC is Facebook censorship of the CPP revolutionary Left. With it, the Facebook community of members and supporters of the revolutionary left, the Philippine media and the interested public have been effectively denied of a source of news and information reflecting the views of the CPP and its related organizations.
The PRWC page must be put back online, with all its previous posts and records of Likes and Followers. The community built around it deserves nothing less.
As a privately-owned platform, Facebook, of course, has the prerogative of doing anything within the realm of its service, including to censor political views and suppress the right to free speech and expression. However, having become a major means of public communication and platform for information exchange, Facebook must respect the public good, including the community’s right to choose what to read and believe in.
Vim Montes
Media Liaison, CPP Information Bureau
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20170411-media-advisory-on-the-social-media-censorship-of-the-cpp
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