Perpetrators that use the social media platform Facebook to victimize individuals can no longer call “right to privacy” as a defense from the government as the Supreme Court now considers visible data, such as chats and photos, gathered from it to be valid evidence against a crime, per the Philippines’ highest court statement in a precedent-setting ruling.
While the “right to privacy” will remain in place to secure the average citizen from government intrusions, the same does not apply to a person charged with a criminal case.
In recent years, the police have unveiled criminal acts such as the running of prostitution rings and money scams on popular platforms, like Messenger.
In a recent instance, the Supreme Court just denied a 24-year-old defendant’s petition not to use his private chats against him following an accusation of child pornography.
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The victim was an underage girl who admitted to having been coaxed to send a picture of her private part via Facebook Messenger after a parent discovered the inappropriate relationship.
Per the court, the victim uses a borrowed phone from her mother but forgot to log out of her account on one occasion, leading to the discovery of the illicit act.
Source: Supreme Court of the Philippines