COMMUNITY Journalist Leonardo “Cong” Corrales, today filed a complaint before the National Privacy Commission (NPC) against Meta (formerly Facebook Inc.) for its alleged failure to observe his data subject rights.
In 2019, Corrales has been subjected to numerous red-taggings on social media, and in anti-communist propaganda materials circulated in the city.
Corrales, this paper, Cagayan de Oro-based Gold Star Daily Editor-In-Chief is earning the reputation as the most red-tagged journalist in Mindanao.
Corrales accused Meta of failing to observe his right to access when it denied his request for information on Facebook accounts that had red-tagged him.
Corrales said he needed the information to identify the people behind the Facebook accounts and hold them accountable.
“This case aims to exact accountability from social media platforms,” Tony La Viña, one of Corrales’ lawyers said.
He had been red-tagged many times in the past, and was even considered as the “most red-tagged journalist in Mindanao” back in 2019, he added.
La Viña lamented that many of his other clients had also been red-tagged but could not do anything because they could not identify the perpetrators, who hid behind fake Facebook names and accounts.
Under Sec. 16 (c) of the Data Privacy Act of 2012, or RA 10173, a data subject has the right to “reasonable access, upon demand, of the names and addresses of the recipients of [his] personal information.”
Meta, in response to a letter from Corrales, had taken down the red tagging posts but said it needed “legal processes” to comply with the request for information.
In an earlier case, BGM v IPP (NPC 19-653), the NPC had ruled that the right of access may be exercised without the need for a court order, particularly when the information is needed to identify the perpetrator and establish one’s legal claims.
“This will benefit other journalists and truth-tellers who have been red-tagged. We are confident that we have a strong basis for this case,” said lawyer Rico Domingo, lead counsel.
La Viña and Domingo are two of the founders and lead convenors of the Movement Against Disinformation (MAD), a broad non-partisan coalition that pushes back against the unregulated and systematic spread of disinformation online.
“I would like to thank the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Movement Against Disinformation, Rappler, at #FactsFirstPH,” said Corrales.
I hope this legal step will encourage other victims of red-tagging and those whose rights have been wronged through Facebook to seek legal remedies, Corrales added.
Meanwhile, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) chairman Jonathan de Santos issued statements on the filing of a complaint against Meta by Corrales.
NUJP has always relied on the strength and resolve of our members in the face of harassment and attacks.
In a statement, NUJP stands with Corrales -- former director and a long-time member and colleague — as he takes another step towards holding those who have falsely accused him of being more than what he has been for decades: A dedicated journalist helping to amplify the voices of those heard least in society.
Unfortunately, although his accusers have made bold claims and scurrilous posts against him on social media, they have done it while hiding behind anonymity as cowards and liars often do.
It said Corrales’ filing today, to find out the particulars of those who have spread lies about him is an important first step in unmasking them and — we hope — eventually holding them to account in court, and not in the court of public opinion of red-tagging Facebook pages and groups.
We thank Rappler, #FactsFirstPH, and the Movement Against Disinformation for the initiative, hard work, and legal expertise that have helped make this moment possible.
While NUJP has documented the incidents of red-tagging on Cong and other colleagues and has condemned these lies, how to seek redress from anonymous accounts has been a question that we have been pondering for years.
The fight against disinformation — of which red-tagging is a particularly dangerous kind — requires multiple sectors acting on different fronts, including transparency and reform on the part of social media platforms.
We have always held that the attacks on Cong and on others, especially those that are done by anonymous pages with apparent links to the military and police, are part of a strategy to discredit and bully into silencing journalists as well as activists and rights defenders working towards a better democracy and a better Philippines. Cong’s filing today will, we believe, lead to evidence of that.
Today’s filing is more than a legal exercise, it is a manifestation and a statement to show that we are strongest when we — journalists, the law profession, the academe, and civil society — are together and we can best help each other hold the line when we do it hand in hand.
