Meta deleted the Facebook pages of 20 Philippine influencers promoting illegal gambling platforms. Among the deleted accounts were the profiles of famous vlogger Boy Tapang (5.5 million subscribers), Kuya Lex TV (100k subscribers), actor Mark Anthony Fernandez (242k subscribers), and others.
This precedent showed that Meta will now delete not only ads, but also the pages of Influencers who systematically violate the rules on gambling.
Meta’s review of celebrity pages began after a recommendation from the Philippine Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC). The watchdog noted that these pages violate Meta’s community rules on gambling content.
Earlier this month, the CICC warned Influencers and content creators to remove any posts related to illegal gambling before July 11 or they could face legal consequences.
In addition, a network of Philippine digital advocates, Digital Pinoys, advocating for the blocking of accounts with unlicensed gambling ads, has published a list of people whose pages should be blocked.
According to Digital Pinoys, this is just the beginning of a larger effort to hold celebrities accountable and cleanse the online space of illegal activity.
“This is just the initial list of Influencers promoting illegal online gambling that Digital Pinoys has submitted to the CICC for page removal. The verification and validation of influencers to determine if the platforms they promote are licensed will continue”, the group clarified in the comment.
The campaign is expected to continue in the coming weeks, covering more accounts.
“Some of the Influencers thought they were untouchable, that we were bluffing. They had more than enough time to comply. They gambled with the law and now they will have to face the consequences,” said Ronald Gustilo, a spokesperson for Digital Pinoys.
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