MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang shrugged off Facebook’s decision to remove some pro-Duterte pages for violating its policies, saying there are other platforms that supporters can use to show their appreciation for the administration.

Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo made the statement in a Palace news briefing on Tuesday, October 23, when asked for comment on the Facebook announcement.

“If the concern is there will be no more avenues, there are so many. We have Twitter, Instagram, and so many others where the advocates can express themselves in support of this administration,” said Panelo.

Malacañang recognized that Facebook is a private company with its own set of rules to impose on users.

“Facebook must have its own rules and regulations. If they are implementing them, that is their own rule,” Panelo said.

On Monday, October 22, Facebook announced it had removed a network of 95 Pages and 39 accounts in the Philippines, including pro-Duterte pages like Duterte Media, Duterte sa Pagbabago BUKAS, DDS, Duterte Phenomenon, and DU30 Trending News.  

According to Facebook, the pages violated its policies on spam as well as its authenticity policies.

Specifically, the pages supposedly encouraged people to “visit low quality websites that contain little substantive content and are full of disruptive ads,” said Facebook. – Rappler.com