Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/26
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, June 26 (CNA) Young pro-democracy activists from East Asian countries on Tuesday shared their experiences in combating authoritarianism, religious extremism, the spread of fake and misleading news and misuse of democratic institutions at a forum in Taipei focused on how to prevent democratic backsliding.

“Maybe online martial law is happening in the Philippines” because some of the Facebook accounts of people critical of Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration have magically disappeared, Anthony Esguerra, a multimedia reporter with INQUIRER.net, the online arm of the Philippines Daily Inquirer, said.

Esguerra continued, asking “Are Facebook and social media really an extension of democratic spaces when they are actually censoring some people?”

Esguerra made the remarks during a talk about the suppression of Filipino civil society since Duterte came to office in 2016, at the fifth East Asia Democracy Forum hosted annually by Taiwan Foundation for Democracy since 2014.   [FULL  STORY]