PHILIPPINE authorities are increasingly using Facebook to target young activists through red-tagging campaigns, Nobel Prize laureate Amnesty International said in a report released today, October 15.
The report, titled "I Turned My Fear Into Courage", accuses the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of weaponizing digital platforms, misinformation, and vague anti-terror laws to harass and suppress human rights defenders.
Red-tagging, a practice where activists are falsely labeled as communist rebels or terrorists, has led to both online harassment and real-world violence, Amnesty said.
Young activists interviewed for this report described how they have personally suffered from being red-tagged, which has led to a climate of fear and self-censorship, or individuals giving up on their work as activists or journalists.
As recently as August 2024, young environmental rights defender Rowena Dasig went missing and is feared to have become the target of a series of enforced disappearances of human rights defenders under President Marcos Jr.
“When you're harassed online or when you’re posted online, that makes you a target. It’s letting people know that this person is a target, that you should not get close to this person… Of course, if you’re not yet organized, it would make you think that you wouldn't want to be an activist because your life would be put in danger,” Ana, not her real name, a 26-year-old student activist said.
Activists, particularly youth investigating human rights abuses, have reported being targeted by government officials and security forces. Facebook, the leading social platform in the Philippines, plays a significant role in enabling these campaigns, Amnesty added.
“Activists and other critical voices are being red-tagged and identified as targets by the government, and then pursued online. However, in the Philippines, the issue does not only concern online harassment; it also results in tangible harm offline,” said Damini Satija, Director of Amnesty Tech.
The report also highlights the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) as a major source of red-tagging content, with its Facebook page accusing activists of links to armed 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,” said Satija.
Amnesty is calling for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to overhaul its content moderation and ad approval systems to curb these abuses.
The Philippine government has not responded to Amnesty’s report.
