STATE-owned China Telecom sought the assistance of social media giant Facebook in removing a “fake page,” after alleged postings by the firm regarding its entry into the Philippines started to circulate on the internet.

“Confirmed na it is a fake FB (Facebook) page. Pinapatanggal na ng China Telecom sa Facebook,” Eliseo Rio, officer-in-charge of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), said in a text message to The Manila Times on Friday.

The fake Facebook page of China Telecom has caught the attention of thousands of Filipino netizens as it hinted on its possible presence in the local telco industry by 2018 with its post “Are we welcome in the Philippines?”





It also supposedly announced that the firm would pick 5, 000 persons to win “a free one year subscription of 200 mbps (megabits per second) internet speed, when “we open our telecommunications company in the Philippines.”

As of posting time, the page has garnered 133,000 followers, three days after it was posted on the web.

The administrator of the page was identified as CTPG Philippines.

Many Facebook posts have started to claim the China Telecom brand following Malacanang’s announcement that the Chinese government chose the company to invest in the country’s telco industry. LISBET K. ESMAEL