Facebook status updates, profile photos go black vs Cybercrime Law

MANILA, Philippines — A day before the Cybercrime Prevention Act is scheduled to take effect, Filipino social media users gave the online world a peek into what the controversial law, seen as an assault to freedom of expression, would do to the vibrant Pinoy community online.

As some netizens trooped to the Supreme Court in a street protest staged against the law, social media users posted on Facebook a status update containing a black horizontal bar followed by a text that read: “[status update blocked.] (by RA . 10175).”

The blacked-out status updates have already gone viral and are being posted today by practically every Facebook user who is against the law.

Other users also intentionally blacked out portions of their status updates that were very critical of the government, demonstrating how the law aims to muzzle the government’s vocal critics online particularly on social media sites like Facebook.

The Philippines has been deemed the “social networking capital of the world” with more than 29 million Internet users registered in social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — the same amount of Filipinos which the new law threatens to silence.








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