By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
A HOUSE of Representatives committee is considering a proposal that will require social media companies to secure a franchise to operate as part of efforts to combat the spread of disinformation, a congressman said on Tuesday.
An operational franchise could also allow the government to capture the industry’s profits amid tax jurisdiction issues faced by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in collecting taxes from online personalities, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers said during a House probe into online disinformation.
“We are contemplating on… asking all social media platforms to secure a franchise in Congress,” he said.
“We want to make sure that it’s not just the platforms who make money, but also the Philippine government. If you are under the franchise of this government, then you will be subject to the regulations and rules that will be imposed,” he added.
BIR lawyer Tobias Gavin C. Arcilla told the panel that the revenue commission relies on the “voluntary declaration” of online personalities for their income taxes.
“There is great difficulty in monitoring it considering that their income primarily comes from foreign income payor,” he said.
“What we do is we audit and investigate the influencers, and we request data from foreign tax jurisdictions where we have existing treaties of exchange of information with, and we cross-check or we compare the information that we receive… and their (online personalities’) declared income tax returns.”
At present, the Philippine government requires public utilities, such as power distributors and water concessionaires, as well as broadcasting companies to secure a legislative franchise from Congress before operating.
“There needs to be regulation. There should be a policy for our social media platforms and actors because they shouldn’t be allowed to use it to spread fake news or baseless statements,” said Mr. Barbers in Filipino.
He said the House joint committee on public safety, public information and communications technology would likely determine key factors for franchise approval after its investigation.
“This is not intended to suppress their freedom of expression or their free speech. This is to ensure discipline, a code of conduct, and ethics [in platforms],” he added.
The proposal to police social media platforms through a legislative franchise requirement is “unacceptable,” Danilo A. Arao, an associate professor of journalism at the University of the Philippines, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“Legislative franchises can be weaponized, as in the case of what happened to ABS-CBN in 2020. There are no benefits when media operations are put at the legislators’ mercy,” he said.
“If Congress wants to fight ‘fake news,’ it should allocate a bigger education budget so that schools can do a better job in implementing media literacy and media education,” he added.
AMONG BIGGEST CHALLENGESMost Filipinos source news from these platforms, with six out of 10 Filipinos saying they get their news from social media, particularly on Facebook, a 2024 survey by political consultancy firm Publicus Asia reported. In a separate report, the University of the Philippines found that the widespread use of social media inundates Filipinos with content spreading mis- and disinformation.
Also on Tuesday, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tristan Tarriela said that “fake news” is among the biggest challenges of the Philippine government in Manila’s campaign to stake its South China Sea claim.
The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines did not immediately respond to a Viber message seeking comment.
The Philippine government launched its “transparency” campaign in the South China Sea to “raise awareness among the Filipino people about the realities in the West Philippine Sea,” said Mr. Tarriela, referring to areas of the waterway that falls within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.