As part of its efforts to curb online scams that include hoax orders, NBI is seeking the passage of a law requiring every Filipino to have one verified social media account, with Facebook being the minimum.
NBI-Cybercrime Division chief Victor Lorenzo also added that under their proposal, the passage of the bill requiring the registration of prepaid SIM cards should be deemed urgent. “Malaking tulong sa law enforcement perspective ‘yung one person, one social media account. Malaki din tulong ‘yung SIM [Card] Registration Act nation,” Lorenzo said.
Aside from the NBI, the idea of a “one person, one Facebook” policy was proposed by Sen. Tito Sotto last June, where he pointed out that it is a good measure in thwarting troll farms–especially in time for the 2022 elections. PNP Chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar agrees with Sotto’s proposal, adding that Facebook should require netizens to use their real names on social media. “There should be greater netizen’s commitment and accountability so it won’t be all fake news and character assassination and even scams that we’re seeing.”
While Senate has yet to push a bill requiring one Facebook account per person, the bill on mandatory SIM card registration has been in the works since 2015. However, the bill has yet to be made it into law, with Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian pushing for its passage last January to track and clamp down scammers. It can be recalled that Gatchalian was a victim of online scams, where his credit card was hacked and was used to order Php 1 million worth of food. The hacker was later on arrested by NBI.