Government to launch nationwide campaign vs fake news

MANILA, Philippines — The government will launch a nationwide digital media literacy campaign in the middle of this year to combat fake news and disinformation, according to the Presidential Communications Office.

PCO Undersecretary Cherbett Karen Maralit made the announcement on Friday during a forum on “CyberSafe Against Fake News: Being Smart, Being Safe and Staying Ahead! Ensuring Women and Girls a Safe Online Experience,” on the sidelines of the 67th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women at the UN headquarters in New York.

Maralit said the campaign seeks to equip the most vulnerable communities in the Philippines with knowledge and tools “to be discerning of the truth.”

She also noted that “crucially, in this age of plenteous and insistent information, the rights of women and girls continue to be undermined by disinformation and misinformation.”

“The PCO, therefore, is positioning itself as a pillar that upholds the rights and welfare of women and girls through a digital media literacy campaign that will focus on our most vulnerable communities,” Maralit said.

“Taking a context-based and factual grassroots approach, we intend to reach out to, and equip, these communities with knowledge and skills and tools that will enable them to be discerning of the truth as they engage in various social media channels and platforms,” she said.

Maralit said the PCO would collaborate with the private sector, including the stakeholders of the broadcast industry, to establish effective mechanisms against fake news.

The PCO will also guide the public toward a place of strength where they have the ability to understand and identify false, incomplete or inaccurate information, she said.

“We will work to improve the citizenry’s ability to think critically and analyze information. The first step towards this end is identifying reliable and credible sources of information,” Maralit said.

A thorough study will be conducted this month throughout the Philippines, which seeks to refine the target communities where media literacy is most needed; determine the social media platforms through which these communities are most susceptible to fake news, and identify the contents and topics on which these misinformation and disinformation focus, the PCO official said.

The study also hopes to identify the profiles of fake news peddlers; understand the influences that open these communities to deceptions, and understand the practices and habits of the target communities that create the opportunities for exposure to disinformation and misinformation, she said.

“When we have gathered the results of this study, expectedly by the middle of this year, we will be implementing a nationwide media literacy campaign that will focus on the areas identified,” Maralit said.