MANILA, Philippines — Bulatlat said Friday that Meta has stopped suggesting the independent news outlet’s Facebook page to users of the social media platform over a record of alleged violations of its community standards.
The outlet said in a statement that Meta, which owns Facebook, has changed its page quality to “not recommendable.”
In a screenshot shown by Bulatlat to reporters, a notification that says “We’re no longer suggesting your page to people” can be seen.
The notification adds that people can still find Bulatlat’s page and like it, but Meta does not recommend pages that include any of the following:
- Admins with a history of violating community standards
- Topic of page is focused on civics, vaccines or other sensitive subjects
- Pages with a history of violating community standards
Meta’s move to limit discovery of Bulatlat’s Facebook page came two days after the outlet reported that the social media giant restricted its page over alleged violations of Facebook’s community standards.
Along with restricting its Facebook page, Meta also took down a quote from Bulatlat’s past interview with deceased Communist Party of the Philippines central committee chairperson Benito Tiamzon.
Bulatlat said that its appeal against the restriction and removal of its post on Tiamzon was rejected by Meta.
“That a quote from a dead communist could be classified as dangerous is mind boggling. Meta's censorship seems to follow the (absence of) logic of red-taggers in government,” Bulatlat said.
It added, “Journalism is not about airing only the official narratives or what government officials want the public to know. Journalism must and should always persevere to present relevant issues in any society, including revolutions and other movements.”
Bulatlat called on its readers to manually check its page for updates, recommend its page to friends and family, “or better yet” follow it on other social media platforms.
According to a post on Facebook community standards, the platform "[does] not allow organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on Facebook."
Meta includes "entities that engage in serious offline harms — including organizing or advocating for violence against civilians" in its Tier 1 of content enforcement.
Meta said on its post on community standards that, under its content moderation policies, "[w]e remove praise, substantive support and representation of Tier 1 entities as well as their leaders, founders or prominent members."
Previously, Bulatlat's website along with dozens of other sites belonging to progressive groups were blocked by the National Telecommunications Commission upon the request of former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon.
The news outlet has scored a court order temporarily halting the implementation of the blocking of its website pending a final decision on its petition questioning the NTC’s move.