Lawmakers express fear over alarming fake Facebook accounts getting rampant today.
FAKE FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS – Facebook users are getting alarmed as making fake accounts have become rampant and everyone is at risk.
Last Sunday, many people have discovered that there were several dummy accounts made around Facebook using their name and among other details. Most of the victims are students, journalists, and activists who are against Duterte administration. Lawyers feel like this could be a way to plant evidence for someone which could implicate crime.
Senator Francis Pangilinan stated, “Students are worried that these accounts may be used to plant bogus evidence that would implicate them in crimes outlined in the anti-terror bill.”
It has all started with numerous UP student discovering multiple accounts under their name which they never made. The duplicate accounts might get involved to identity theft. Like wildfire, this report spread online and caused panic to other users who expressed of feeling unsafe after it has happened. Thus, netizens demanded utmost protection.
The fear ignited following the Anti-Terror Bill which can be used to target those who will criticize Duterte. Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate, according to Rappler, said that some activists who have no real account now have multiple empty accounts online.
One alarming possibility with this is that the fake account bearing the name of someone might spread fake news and the innocent person might get in trouble because of this. He added, “This is online tanim-ebidensiya (planting of evidence) and identity theft if this persists. If the proposed terror bill is enacted into law, real name owners of these fake accounts can be easily sent to jail for being framed by such means.”
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