A baby and a face: DOST council’s official page profile pic replaced

April 7, 2023 - 2:01 PM
7148
DOST PCIEERD profile pic hacking
An image of an unidentified man holding a baby replaced the logo of a council under the Department of Science and Technology on its official Facebook page on Friday, April 7, 2023. (Interaksyon artwork)

The page has a blue check mark but for a moment social media users thought it was a page mimicking that of a council under the Department of Science and Technology.

A man holding a baby became the new profile photo of the official Facebook page of the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development on Friday morning, April 7.

DOST PCIEERD Facebook page
Hacked? The DOST-PCIEERD’s verified Facebook page with the new profile pic as of 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 7, 2023.

“Is not this an official gov’t social media page?” a follower asked.

“Tapos na po ang April Fools,” commented another Facebook user below the profile photo.

“Admin reveal po ba yan,” asked another.

Prior to the post replacing the logo with the unidentified man’s photo, the page posted on Nov. 8, 2021 announcing the inauguration of a chemistry laboratory.

A more recent post on Friday morning, however, had been deleted. It warned social media users that there could be “suspicious activity” on the page, suggesting that administrator access to the page has been compromised.

“We would like to inform everyone that the DOST-PCIEERD Facebook page is experiening technical difficulties,” read the now-deleted post. “Rest assured that we are addressing this with our partners from Meta.”

DOST PCIEERD screenshot
Screenshot made on Friday morning, April 7 shows an advisory issued by the DOST council’s official Facebook page.

Meta is Facebook’s mother company.

The PCIEERD is one of the three sectoral planning councils under the DOST, the two others being a council for health research and another for research on agricultural, aquatic and natural resources.