Skip to content

Tag: Facebook

Beware of this ‘Bishop Ted Bacani’ impostor

Published by Ellen on June 13, 2021

Last Friday afternoon, June 11, I got a call from an unidentified number while I was attending a VERA Files activity. The caller introduced himself as “Bishop Ted Bacani.”

I had to ask him twice who he was because he was not speaking gently the way I remember Bishop Ted Bacani spoke. Anyway, he said, “Si Bishop Bacani ito.”

He said he had learned that VERA Files is the owner of Facebook Philippines. I immediately corrected him. VERA Files does not own Facebook Philippines. We are just one of the three third-party fact-checkers of Facebook in the country.

Continue readingBeware of this ‘Bishop Ted Bacani’ impostor

For a more responsible Facebooking

Published by Ellen on November 30, 2016

digital-halo-halo-hackathon

We are glad that Facebook has restored the account of journalist Inday Espina-Varona after it was erroneously blocked last Monday morning.

What happened to Inday’s FB account shows how things have gotten out- of -control with Facebook, the social media phenomenon with over 1.79 billion users, almost a fourth of the world’s population.

Monday evening, when I visited Inday’s vibrant FB page, I got this advisory: “Sorry, this content isn’t available right now.

Continue readingFor a more responsible Facebooking

More reason to be careful about FB posting

Published by Ellen on June 17, 2013

FacebookLast Friday, Facebook confirmed that it has released data related to national security requested by law enforcement agencies.

A statement by Ted Ullyot, Facebook General Counsel revealed that “For the six months ending December 31, 2012, the total number of user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government entities in the U.S. (including local, state, and federal, and including criminal and national security-related requests) – was between 9,000 and 10,000. These requests run the gamut – from things like a local sheriff trying to find a missing child, to a federal marshal tracking a fugitive, to a police department investigating an assault, to a national security official investigating a terrorist threat. The total number of Facebook user accounts for which data was requested pursuant to the entirety of those 9-10 thousand requests was between 18,000 and 19,000 accounts.”

Continue readingMore reason to be careful about FB posting