Red-tagging of youth activists remains under Marcos, says international watchdog

October 14, 2024 , 10:03 PM

By Gabriel Kim Leal

(October 14, 2024) – The red-tagging of youth activists and human rights defenders has continued under the administration of Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr., according to a report by an international human rights watchdog on Monday.

In a report, Amnesty International revealed how state-affiliated social media accounts continue to spread red-tagging content, particularly on social media, linking progressive individuals and groups to communists or terrorist activities.

“Meta has allowed state officials and other platform users to continue to misuse Facebook to harass, intimidate, and threaten human rights defenders,” read the report. “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.”

Red-tagging intensified during the heavy-handed rule of former president Rodrigo Duterte, particularly by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

Despite calls from some lawmakers and sectoral groups, Marcos has refused to abolish the NTF-ELCAC, insisting that “it’s not the government that’s red-tagging.”

Amnesty International, however, disagreed. It noted that the NTF-ELCAC frequently posts memes, statements, articles, and misinformation on social media that baselessly accuse youth groups of recruiting young individuals into communist groups.

“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,” added Amnesty International.

Last May, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that red-tagging is a threat to “life, liberty, and security.”

According to human rights group Karapatan, there have been 14 enforced disappearances under Marcos.

In 2019, Facebook removed over 200 accounts linked to state actors after they were found spreading anti-activism propaganda through fake accounts.

But for Amnesty International, the issue is far from finished.

“Abolish the NTF-ELCAC, carry out a prompt, independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into the practices of the task force throughout the duration of its operations, and address impunity within the NTF-ELCAC,” said the report, adding that the Anti-Terrorism Law and the Cybercrime Act must be repealed.

(PM)

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