Facebook uncooperative against online piracy -- IP exec


The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is finding it "a little more difficult" to work with social media giant Facebook in addressing piracy online.

During the House inquiry on the reported cases of online piracy during last year's Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Thursday, March 4, IPOPHL Assistant Directo Ann Edillon said they have been coordinating with various online platforms for investigations and actions against pirated content on their sites.

"Some them are more receptive that others in terms of taking down content which is pirated," Edillon, who also heads the agency's enforcement office, told the House committee on creative industry and performing arts.

"We find that Facebook is a little more difficult to interact with because what they claiming is that, they are not a site -- unlike YouTube where it's a site that offers videos -- they claim that Facebok is a social media site, and these are personal posts by people. So they interpret things differently," she said.

Online video platform Vidyard, on the other hand, "was actually quite receptive" to the IPOPHL's communications.

She said that YouTube and Google were not exactly accepting to the intellectual property agency but had been "very receptive" to complaints coming directly from rights owners, since they have their own reporting mechanisms.

Edillon said Facebook only do take downs "once you bombard them with a lot of information, a lot of documentation." But even this is "not a regular occurence", she noted.

According to Edillon, 60 percent of all the reports they receive on piracy ad counterfeiting happen on Facebook.

Other piracy acts also occur in online shopping applications but "this amount is quite staggering for Facebook." "We have made this data available to Facebook, Shopee and Lazada. We are in constant coordination with them but based on our assessment there is still much to be desired in terms of their speed of response to us also," Edillon said.

Edillon reported that in 2020, the IPOPHL received a total of 190 counterfeiting and piracy reports, 54 of which related to piracy.