Netizens fall for satirical ‘Anti-Angry Birds Bill’

By GMA News

Filipino netizens are fuming over a supposed bill that seeks to ban the online game “Angry Birds," making the said bill the Philippines’ third most discussed topic on Twitter this Sunday.

News on the so-called “Anti-Angry Birds Bill" is going viral on social networking sites after the satirical website “So, What’s News?" posted a story on this last Friday. The bill was supposedly filed by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, who earlier filed a bill against planking during street protests.

The satire said Castelo got the idea for the bill when he went Christmas shopping the other day at a mall. “Everywhere I looked, ‘Angry Birds’ this, ‘Angry Birds’ that! Where is the product diversity? Shouldn’t the DTI be monitoring this?" the representative supposedly said.

“This is why this bill is even more important than my own Anti-Planking Bill. I hope that my colleagues here at Batasan will support this bill," Castelo said, according to the website.

In a Facebook message to GMA News Online, Castelo said he finds the satirical Angry Birds Bill "funny and amusing." "I play the game. That's the favorite of my son. It's a hoax, kuryente," he said.

"I'm busy with the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law and FOI bill," he added.

“So What’s News?" is a website that aims “to inject humor into everyday news to provide respite to readers who have grown weary with mainstream news organizations’ partisan, biased, and depressing way of presenting the news."

Reminding furious netizens

With the satirical bill now trending on Twitter, some netizens have had to remind other angry Twitter users that such a bill is nonexistent, and merely calls attention to political issues.

The furor over the “Anti-Angry Birds Bill," nevertheless, reflects the criticisms against the Anti-Planking Act of 2011 that Castelo actually proposed last month. Netizens have said such a bill is a waste of time given the Philippines’ other problems like hunger and poverty.

Meanwhile, GMA News Online is urging Internet users not to spread false and unverified information online. - KBK, GMA News

Source: GMA News

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