MANILA - Meta on Monday said it is investigating why some links to the website of the Philippine News Agency and Radyo Pilipinas have been taken down from Facebook.

In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said it is working on resolving the issue, adding the links appeared to be blocked by an automated system. Meta is the parent company of Facebook.

"We are aware that some links to the PNA and Radyo Pilipinas websites appear to be blocked from being shared on our apps, by an automation system. As a result, other Facebook Pages that have previously shared these links, would see their posts flagged as well," the spokesperson said.

"We are investigating and working to resolve this issue."

The PNA said it has coordinated with Facebook regarding the issue.

It encouraged its followers to report or contest the flagged posts, or send a complaint to Facebook.

"We encourage that you report/contest your flagged posts or send a complaint to let Facebook know that the story/ies do not violate community standards on cybersecurity," the government news agency said.

Meanwhile, a faction of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) denounced the "simultaneous and massive flagging" of its posts by Facebook.

In a statement, PDP Laban faction president Sec. Alfonso Cusi said most of the posts flagged were about the achievements of the Duterte administration.

"We have received reports from many of our candidates that their posts and shared news stories, especially those that highlight the achievements of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's administration were flagged and taken down as violative of Facebook community standards," he said.

He expressed concern that a foreign media company is supposedly "blatantly controlling and censoring", in violation of freedom of speech and the right to information.

Last week, the Department of the Interior and Local and Government on also called out Facebook for allegedly flagging the post of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. in which he urged Filipinos to unite to end the communist insurgency.

• DILG calls out Facebook for flagging post of PH security adviser

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