The Take Down Of 200 Accounts Linked To Man Behind Philippines President's Social Media Campaign

30/03/2019

After the Russians in meddling with the U.S. Presidential Election by purchasing ads on its platform, the word "election" could be something Facebook finds sensitive to hear.

To prevent similar things from happening, the social giant is taking precautions whenever elections are about to happen.

This time, it's in the Philippines, which is seeing its general election on May 13th, 2019.

Facebook said that it took down 200 Pages, accounts, and groups that were performing "coordinated inauthentic behavior."

These accounts, according to Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy Nathaniel Gleicher , generally shared content about “local and political news, including topics like the upcoming elections, candidate updates and views, alleged misconduct of political opponents, and controversial events that were purported to occur during previous administrations.”

With millions of followers, these accounts spent about $59,000 to advertise on the platform.

While the people who operated these accounts tried to remain anonymous, Facebook discovered that they were actually associated with Nic Gabunada.

Nic Gabunada
Nic Gabunada, the man behind the social media campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte, accused for engaging in "coordinated inauthentic behavior"

Gabunada is a businessman who used to run a Philippines media company, in which also "markets brands and causes, crafts and executes communications strategies, as well as amplifying messages".

He has also helped manage the social media campaign of the country’s president Rodrigo Duterte during the past election.

Duterte, who was elected in 2016, frequently used social media during his campaign.

The President is known to have a vast and effective "keyboard army", that have mobilized the web to spread his voice. During the past election, each day, hundreds of thousands of supporters - both paid and unpaid - take to social media to amplify his remarks.

According to Gleicher, the accounts were taken down due to their coordinated behavior, and not because of the actual content they posted.

This is a term the company uses to describe accounts that work together to hide whoever is behind them and what their purpose is.

After finding his name linked with these accounts, Nic Gabunada, who admitted for being behind the social media campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, said it was “unfortunate” that Facebook associated his name with the 200 profiles and Pages.

In an interview with the ABS-CBN news, Gabunada said that as a communications person, his accounts were added, even without his approval, in Pages and groups during and after the 2016 campaign.

“Before, Facebook automatically makes you part of the group without asking you. Now they have to give consent. My name is all over the place. This may be the reason why some Pages, after they were examined, my name was there,” Gabunada said.

Among the 200 accounts, Gabunada's personal Facebook account was also taken down.

"I was so surprised…I just thought this is all unfortunate for them to include my name," he said, as he planned to appeal the measure.

"I'm just one of those that shares and invited to join certain groups," he added.

Previously, Facebook has removed accounts linked to Russia, Iran and other countries for trying to wreak political havoc or influence elections in the U.S. and elsewhere.