Shutdown Quiboloy & SMNI

GABRIELA USA welcomes the deletion of both Apollo Quiboloy and Lorraine Badoy’s Facebook pages and urges META to extend this decision to include the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) page as part of the machinery that is used to terror-tag and spew out disinformation to the Filipino people. Quiboloy and Badoy have caused serious harm to the people both in the Philippines and the U.S. and deserve to be closed off from social media altogether. 

Due to the people’s outrage over Quiboloy’s crimes, which have landed him on the FBI’s wanted list, his personal pages on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok and Google have all been shut down this summer. His Facebook page was by far his largest platform, with at least 1.2 million followers as of July 2023. This is truly a victory against Quiboloy and a step closer towards achieving justice for the victims of his crimes. 

As for Lorraine Badoy, the former NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson, she has used her social media platform to maliciously target individuals, like the Rappler CEO and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, and wrongfully red-tagged BAYAN USA in 2022 and GABRIELA USA in 2019. Badoy, alongside her co-host on the SMNI show “Laban Kasama Ang Bayan,” Jeffery Celiz, were sued by the chairperson emeritus of BAYAN Philippines, Carol Araullo, in July 2023 for red-tagging her and other activists.

These actions have serious repercussions that should be questioned and put under scrutiny. We applaud the decision for these platforms to finally take down these two dangerous individuals who have weaponized the platform to fuel fear into the people.

While GABRIELA USA welcomes this victory, we recognize that these are not the only avenues they have to spread hate and misinformation to the people. 

The SMNI news channel, owned by Quiboloy, remains as a mouthpiece to the current Marcos-Duterte regime and is utilized to attack progressive organizations and activists. The effects of this can range from designating workers and peasants as terrorists to extrajudicial killings. Additionally, because of news channels like SMNI, the Filipino people have to constantly struggle against misinformation and historical revisionism. 

For OFWs, being updated on the news is what keeps them informed on what is happening back home, and it is of utmost importance for the people to have access to accurate, truth-telling news channels. SMNI’s reporting twists the truth in an attempt to trick the Filipino people into believing that the nation is sound while endangering the lives of those committed to exposing the true conditions of the Philippines.

So while we celebrate this win against Quiboloy, GABRIELA USA remains steadfast in the call to shutdown ALL of Quiboloy’s pages, including his Twitter and the pages of Sonshine Media Network International. Supporters can sign onto the petition. Furthermore, we urgently extend the demand to shut down the entire SMNI platform and to abolish the NTF-ELCAC now!