A Filipino journalist pushes back against red-tagging and disinformation by taking on Meta
The petition aims to compel tech platforms to review how they handle human rights issues
Originally published on Global Voices
Journalist Cong Corrales (middle) was joined by his lawyers in filing a case against Meta in May 2023 for its alleged failure to observe his data subject rights. Photo from the press release of the Movement Against Disinformation. Fair use.
This article is part of a series produced by IFEX, the global network defending and promoting freedom of expression, on the impact of the silence and inaction of Big Tech about the misuse of their platforms in amplifying attacks targeting journalists.
The Higaonon are an Indigenous group based in the mountainous regions of northern and central Mindanao, in the Philippines. They face serious challenges, notably the encroachment of mining and logging operations in their ancestral territories. In 2019, after Leonardo Vicente “Cong” Corrales wrote about the plight of Higaonon evacuees fleeing from military clashes in their communities, he found himself included in a poster of individuals tagged as alleged members of the Communist Party of the Philippines in Cagayan de Oro, which is designated by the Philippine government as a terrorist group. The producers of the poster, which circulated widely online, remained anonymous.
This is “red-tagging” — the practice of linking individuals and groups to the Communist Party and its armed wing. During Duterte’s presidency, red-tagging was used to target critics, journalists, scholars, the opposition, and human rights defenders. Professional journalists are mainly red-tagged by unknown perpetrators on social media platforms.
Despite authorities’ insistence that there’s no such thing as red-tagging, an important Supreme Court ruling in 2024 described it as a threat to life and liberty. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) recently produced a study that showed that 60 percent of red-tagging incidents between 2016 and 2024 were perpetrated by state forces, particularly members of the police and military.
Sometimes the threats against Corrales were even more direct. In 2020, after expressing support for ABS-CBN, the country’s largest media broadcaster, which was forced to shut down after its franchise was not renewed (by a Congress dominated by allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte), he returned to the station to find a wreath had been placed there, with his name and the names of other journalists on it.
In 2021, after writing an article about a community pantry, Corrales was once again red-tagged by anonymous Facebook accounts spreading a photo of him carrying a gun and implying that he is an armed communist rebel. The gun was actually a toy used in a safety training seminar for journalists.
In 2023, a doxxing operation added fuel to the fire. An anonymous Facebook account uploaded information sheets of Corrales and another journalist extracted from a city government’s housing agency. The intent was to condemn critical journalists like Corrales for availing themselves of government services like socialized housing, implying that citizens should lose this right when they criticize authorities.
In 2023, he sent a letter to Meta, Facebook’s parent company, demanding the removal of posts that had been red-tagging him since 2019 and asking for information about the accounts behind these posts. In response, Meta said it had already taken down the posts, but insisted “it needed legal processes to comply with the request for information.”
Corrales countered by filing a case before the National Privacy Commission (NPC) against Meta because of the latter’s refusal to provide information about the red-tagging accounts. He was backed by NUJP and volunteer lawyers from the Movement Against Disinformation, which vowed to pursue a “watershed litigation” against the red-taggers.
JUST IN. Cagayan de Oro based journalist Cong Corrales @congcorrales files a complaint with the National Privacy Commission to compel Meta to disclose info about Cong's red-taggers. pic.twitter.com/n46pX22ubN
— Bulatlat (@bulatlat) May 5, 2023
In July 2025, an arbitration facilitated by the NPC allowed Corrales and his legal team to access the identities of at least 10 of around 30 social media pages behind the red-tagging accounts. At least one of the accounts was traced to a government establishment. Corrales and his lawyers welcomed the decision as an important step forward in pursuing accountability and justice.
In an interview with IFEX, Corrales emphasized the moral and ethical responsibility of Meta and other social media platforms to protect their users.
They are no longer just neutral bulletin boards; they are now the primary battlegrounds for public discourse. By failing to act decisively, these platforms become unwitting accomplices to human rights abuses. The algorithms that are designed to maximize engagement can amplify dangerous narratives like red-tagging, which puts lives at risk.
He underscored the need for “legal pushback” to compel Meta to respond to his petition. “Without legal action, these platforms can easily ignore our pleas,” he said.
“The legal route is not just about a single case; it’s about forcing a systemic change in how these platforms handle human rights issues,” he added.
As a way forward to combat red-tagging, Corrales urged the government to make a “clear, unequivocal condemnation of red-tagging by high-ranking officials” and ensure “the swift investigation and prosecution of individuals who spread disinformation and incite violence against journalists and rights advocates.”
Regarding social media platforms like Meta, Corrales emphasized that creating a safer online environment is crucial to safeguarding democracy and the free press.
They should have stricter and more transparent content moderation policies specifically designed to address state-sponsored or coordinated disinformation campaigns. They need to be more responsive to user reports of threats, hate speech, harassment, and disinformation, especially when these come from state-affiliated sources. They must invest in local teams with a deep understanding of the sociopolitical context in the Philippines.
From being the most red-tagged journalist in his region, Corrales fought back by invoking the responsibilities of tech platforms and government bodies to protect the safety of all internet users.