President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has expressed dismay on Monday after Facebook took down pages being used for government advocacy that promote public welfare

In a televised address, President Duterte questioned the presence of the social media company in the Philippines if it can’t help the government espouse or advocate pro-people programs in the platform.

“If government cannot use it for the good of the people, then we have to talk. We have to talk sense,” the President said.

“If we are promoting the cause of the rebellion which is already — which or rather which was already here before you came, and so many thousands of my soldiers and civilians dying, then if you cannot reconcile the idea of what your purpose is or was, then we have to talk.”

Facebook, he said, cannot lay down a policy for the government, reiterating that the company cannot prevent the administration from espousing government objectives that promote public good.

“No government in this wide world espouses his killing or execution or whatnot. But you know that there is a left there — the left is the National Democratic Front and that’s the — then they are the New People’s Army as an organ of that,” he said.

“So, kung hindi tayo magkaintindihan diyan, mag-usap tayo ulit. Is there life after Facebook? I don’t know. Pero mag-usap tayo,” he added.

Facebook has taken down a total of 155 Facebook accounts, nine Facebook groups and six Instagram accounts on China that are believed to have violated its rule against coordinated inauthentic behavior and spreading fake news or used for propaganda. PND