Human Rights Watch official Phil Robertson says the move is meant to silence Stefan Magdalinski and shut down Multiply by hook or by crook
MANILA, Philippines – Two days before outgoing President Benigno Aquino III steps down from office, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reaffirmed its decision to revoke the certificates of incorporation of Multiply. Various media and rights groups saw this as an attack against press freedom and expressed their support for the E-commerce marketplace Multiply led by Stefan Magdalinski.
Multiply’s press conference on the SEC’s latest decision.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a lateral guild promoting press freedom in the country, said the outgoing administration weaponizes the law and other regulatory processes to attack the press.
“Throughout the six years of the Aquino administration, we have seen lawsuits and regulatory processes used as tools to muzzle the press and this, as much as the touted infrastructure projects, form part of the Aquino legacy.”
NUJP ABS-CBN chapter also expressed support for their fellow media workers and said the SEC’s decision is a move to silence Multiply: “There is no other way to interpret this latest move of the Securities and Exchange Commission other than to characterize it as a brazen bid to silence one of the constant critical voices against the administration.”
In a Twitter post, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), a nonprofit organization that helps media workers, urged the government to reverse its decision.
“We strongly urge the Philippine government to reverse the decision to shut down Multiply, a pioneering social media platform that has become one of the only sources of photos and videos amid a crackdown on #pressfreedom.”
The ICFJ also cited their research, which showed that the attacks on Multiply enable online violence: “This legal harassment not only costs Multiply time, money and energy. It enables relentless and prolific online violence designed to chill independent reporting.”
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