The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday announced it will implement new protocols for handling social media evidence following a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that established clear guidelines for proving the ownership of online accounts.
Acting PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said the new standards aim to modernize digital investigations and ensure that evidence gathered from platforms like Facebook and X is authenticated properly before being presented in court.
“These guideposts will help our investigators build stronger cases,” Nartatez said in a statement. “For ongoing investigations, we will review digital evidence carefully, while future cases will be handled more systematically and transparently.”
The Supreme Court recently identified seven indicators to prove account ownership: admission of authorship, evidence of account access, unique personal knowledge in posts, distinct writing patterns, service provider records or device forensics, consistency with previous posts, and other contextual indicators.
The high court’s ruling originated from a case involving Republic Act 9262, the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act. In that case, a man was convicted of harassing a former girlfriend via Facebook despite his claims that he did not own the account.
The court cited his profile photos and messages sent to the victim’s siblings as proof of his control over the account.
The defendant was sentenced to up to eight years in prison and ordered to pay a P100,000 fine.
Nartatez cited that the ruling protects due process, preventing individuals from being convicted based on easily faked or hacked screenshots. “It ensures that law enforcement and the courts follow clear procedures, which strengthens public trust in our justice system,” he said.