March 24, 2025
MANILA – 1-Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez has asked Tiktok to enforce more measures to combat disinformation as he sounded alarm about a viral post claiming that Palawan was part of China.
During the House of Representatives Tri-Comm hearing last March 21, Friday, Gutierrez said the actions taken by Tiktok were only “reactionary.” It only removes the content when flagged, instead of taking preventive measures.
“Mr. Chair, most respectfully, while we laud the attempts at the measures being taken by TikTok in relation to this and we appreciate the numbers that are being put forward, one issue that we have really is that anecdotally, that doesn’t seem to be the case,” Gutierrez said.
During the hearing, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tariella raised false claims about China’s ownership of Palawan circulating on Tiktok. He said that it was “a new kind of propaganda.”
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“For example, when we talk about fake news in relation to China, when we see one video posted and it has been reported, we would see the same video posted by a different person,” Gutierrez said.
“So that’s why I wanted to ask if – how do we ensure that a video that has been flagged for disinformation is not posted again?” he added.
Tiktok’s Policy Manager Peachy Paderna, who was also present at the hearing, said that they do not allow misinformation to flourish on the platform.
“We do not allow misinformation that not just puts individuals at risk of harm but we also do not allow misinformation that may cause societal harm,” she said.
She added that videos undergo quick review by technology moderation which studies signals of misinformation before they are uploaded.
She also said the platform relies on independent fact-checkers and community reports to flag false information.
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“We are happy to work with the honorable committee in securing links to these videos so we can endorse them to the appropriate teams with TikTok,” she added.
Paderna said Tiktok removed over 4 million videos for violating community guidelines between July to September 2024, but Gutierrez said the platform still has a long way to go in addressing disinformation.
“So I hope you’d understand the frustration that this committee would have in relation to the social media posts—and that’s not even going into yet the issue of suppression that our journalists are facing in relation to the territorial dispute of the West Philippine Sea,” Gutierrez added.