On Sunday, 7 June 2020, the Philippines woke up to a number of dummy accounts created from original profiles on social media site Facebook.

Journalists, students, and ordinary citizens were subjects of this unexpected trend. Some of the said dummy accounts are empty, others have pictures and a few added friends.

To date, some of these accounts have been taken down also due to aggressive reporting from concerned Facebook users.

We note the statements from the National Bureau of Investigation that it will investigate the matter, despite being quick to attribute the incident to a possible glitch, as well as the ongoing coordination of the National Privacy Commission with Facebook Philippines to look into the issue.

The Commission on Human Rights, however, continues to express grave concern.

Under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, computer-related identity theft is a punishable act. This underscores the idea of privacy as a fundamental human right, wherein individuals can assert against unwanted interferences in their lives as a matter of protecting one’s identity and human dignity.

The guarantee of privacy then, as equally protected by the Constitution, must both apply offline and online, as it should be with other human rights.

At the same time, groups and individuals, particularly those who have been expressing critical views on the government, report receiving death threats and intimidation from accounts which were supposed to be blank and mere duplicates. Others also claim receiving messages tagging them as communists.

Such practices pose a threat to the people’s freedom of speech and expression, as well as the right to express grievance and demand for redress, especially from the government, without fear of getting persecuted.

In the face of fears towards laws and policies that may affect our human rights, we call on the government to investigate these cases seriously and take active steps in determining the cause of the creation of dummy accounts, including allegations of threats coming from these duplicate profiles.

There is a need for an assurance from the government they have the people’s best interest in mind, which includes protecting human rights in all aspects of human life.

But we also note the responsibility of Facebook in protecting human rights given that they have an effect on the people’s enjoyment of their rights, as well as on how their platform impacts on democratic exchanges and processes, such as discourse on wide-ranging social issues and during elections to name a few.

Technology continues to shape the way we interact with each other and the world. We call for continued vigilance against any means meant to repress our rights and freedoms even in the digital sphere. ###