CPP/CIO: Denounce Twitter censorship on Philippine revolutionary groups

Propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Aug 1, 2022): Denounce Twitter censorship on Philippine revolutionary groups

Marco Valbuena

Chief Information Officer

Communist Party of the Philippines

August 01, 2022

This article is available in ChinesePilipino

Social media giant Twitter, unceremoniously suspended today the various accounts of Filipino revolutionary organizations and individuals, including my account, that of the Philippine Revolution Web Central (PRWC), as well as other representatives of the CPP and the New People’s Army in various parts of the country. In total, at least 14 accounts were taken down.

This is the second round of attacks by Twitter against the CPP in the span of two months. The suspension of the accounts was done simultaneously this morning (Philippine time) in what is clearly a coordinated crackdown on online democratic and anti-imperialist dissent.

Twitter targeted accounts of individuals who have exposed the ills of Philippine society. They have served as voice for the victims of state abuse, who otherwise have no other means of sharing their stories to the world. They have drawn public attention to gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated by the Philippine military and police. They have exposed misinformation being spread by state agencies on media and social media.

We hold the Marcos government and its cabal of national security and military officers responsible for colluding with Twitter to silence the Philippine revolutionary forces. This act of censorship reminds us of how his tyrant father closed all newspapers under martial law and allowed only those which promoted his dictatorship. We see this attempt to silence the CPP as part of a broader campaign to clamp down on other democratic forces in the Philippines.

The crackdown against these Twitter accounts is outright censorship against those who espouse the cause of anti-imperialism, national freedom and democracy. The Party maintains that it has the inherent right to condemn all forms of oppression and exploitation against the people, expose US intervention in the Philippines and foreign plunder of the country’s resources, denounce the Philippine government for its subservience to the imperialist US and China, and expose those who partner with the US military and foreign multinational corporations as traitors to the Filipino people’s aspiration for national freedom.

Contrary to the image of a democratic platform that it tries to project, Twitter is acting like a Bureau of Truth imposing rules on what views or opinion can be allowed and not allowed. It is using the US’ “terrorist” card to label revolutionaries and anti-imperialist forces in a vain attempt to justify their undemocratic acts.

Of course, this comes as no surprise, considering that Twitter (like Facebook and other big online companies) is a private company owned by multibillionaires, which works closely with the US government and its intelligence agencies. These social media companies use their monopoly dominance to manipulate public opinion in their favor and silence those who dissent, either through algorithm or outright censorship.

The obstinate efforts of the fascists over the past few years to deny the revolutionary forces of all possible online platform—from the repeated DDoS attacks against the CPP’s website, to the recent NTC ban and the earlier Facebook crackdown—is testimony to the success and effectivity of the Filipino revolutionary forces in exposing the national subservience, fascist crimes and corruption of the reactionary system and rousing the people to wage armed struggle and all forms of resistance.

We enjoin everyone to continue visiting the Philippine Revolution Web Central https://cpp.ph and the website of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines https://ndfp.org to read the views of the CPP and NPA and information about the revolutionary movement.

At the same time, the Party will continue to try using Twitter and other social media platforms despite their attempts to clamp down against online revolutionary dissent, even as we continue to explore other means of linking up with the online community.

https://cpp.ph/statements/denounce-twitter-censorship-on-philippine-revolutionary-groups/