Marcos meets with TikTok execs; fake news tackled

SAN FRANCISCO – President Marcos and executives of the popular yet controversial short video hosting service TikTok have discussed ways to help small businesses promote their products and exchanged views on “fake news” during a meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) here.

In a statement yesterday, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Marcos has set a “partnership” with
 Tiktok on “edutainment” or instructive entertainment, angled for Filipino sellers, in order to train them to promote their goods.

“We want to give more resources and highlight and train the local sellers in the more rural parts of the country because that’s one thing interesting on the platform,” Tiktok chief executive officer Shou Zi Chew was quoted in the PCO statement as saying.

“We have a lot of this in Vietnam, a lot of this in Indonesia, a lot of this in Malaysia... give it a platform to sell around the country and export around the world. That’s the plan,” he added.

Chew, whose video-sharing platform has about 50 million users in the Philippines, said his company was “very excited” about two “edutainment” projects intended for smaller sellers. The statement did not elaborate on the projects.

A number of countries, including Australia, Belgium, India, France, Netherlands and the US have imposed restrictions on Tiktok due to privacy and national security concerns.

Tiktok, which is owned by Chinese technology firm Bytedance, has denied sharing users’ data to the Chinese government.

Earlier this month, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said the Philippine government is studying the potential threat posed by Tiktok, noting that Chinese firms are required to cooperate with their government. A nationwide ban on the China-made platform may be enforced if it would be proven to be involved in cyberespionage.

Chew assured Marcos that Tiktok gives importance to the safety of its users.

“(There are) rules that keep people civil and keep the platform safe. So, we have community guidelines like no violence, no sexual abuse material, we have all these guidelines and we have a team of people who moderate content,” he