Fake news

Finally, the day came when the purveyors of fake news were made to explain before a congressional committee. It was about time that they did. But that was after much hemming and hawing as they tried in vain to get the Supreme Court to stop the congressmen from summoning them.

And the hearing’s timing was perfect – after a flurry of fake news following the Duterte arrest to face the International Criminal Court.

One of the vloggers was spreading the fake news that there was a looming mass resignation of PNP and AFP officials to protest the administration’s decision to hand over Duterte to the ICC. Well, she admitted it was a lie but defended the absence of truth by saying she added the local word, daw, to indicate it was unconfirmed. Besides, she said, it was her feeling, and she had the right to express it.

Feelings and facts are two different things. That female vlogger is supposedly working for a mainstream newspaper and yet is unable to distinguish feelings from verifiable news. Opinions must be labeled as such and it is up to the reader to agree or disagree. Opinion is individual. Factual truth involves other people who can verify it.

Adding “daw” doesn’t work. That only makes the vlogger a rumor monger because that is what it was, a rumor. Or it could be something the vlogger got out of thin air. What makes that dangerous is that others may believe that to be true and make some unfortunate decisions. A rumor like that is a threat to national security and ought to be punished as such.

I realize it is difficult to instill discipline or a sense of responsibility on purveyors of fake news. After all, no less than the president of the world’s leading superpower is a prolific practitioner of the art of spreading fake news (e.g. Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating pet cats in Ohio). He and his minions introduced their concept of “alternative” truth to avoid having to admit that they were spewing lies. Something is either the truth or it is not. Truth is like being pregnant. One is either pregnant or not. No one can be half pregnant and a half-truth is not the truth.

Social media is a powerful political tool in the Philippines. There were 97.5 million individuals using the internet in the Philippines at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 83.8 percent. The Philippines was home to 90.8 million social media user identities in January 2025. In 2024, Filipino internet users spent an average of eight hours and 52 minutes daily, with five hours and 20 minutes spent on mobile phones and three hours and 32 minutes on computers and tablets. This makes the country fertile ground for online campaigns of disinformation.

Our problem today is that social media has exploded and everyone is now a publisher. For most, their worst instincts come alive as they use their “influencer” power to say whatever they like with no regard to social consequences. Driven by social media, fake news becomes instantly available at a previously unprecedented speed of propagation.

Present-day fake news generates an “information disorder.” The social media algorithm that’s not trained to spot falsehood amplifies the lie. Lies repeated often can make some people think it is the truth.

A recent SWS survey commissioned by Stratbase Group revealed that 59 percent of Filipinos considered the spread of fake news on social media to be a serious issue.

Some years ago, Facebook announced the removal of at least 200 pages of coordinated “inauthentic behavior” linked to a network organized by the social media manager of Duterte’s electoral campaign.

ABS-CBN quoted a professor at De La Salle University warning that the country’s problems about misinformation may get worse.

“They might also be part…of cognitive warfare... lalo na’t may issue tayo on the West Philippine Sea, we cannot discount politics, we cannot discount the fact na may strategy. May malice yan, they are being backed by a state actor that has all the resources, and has the strategic mind frame, and of course the goal, the goal is to demoralize, to create division.”

How do we deal with those who spread fake news? The vloggers operate in the gray areas between free speech and undermining our democratic institutions, even our national security. Some vloggers are being traitors to the country. But having the government regulate them is like regulating free speech and the government will eventually be the fountain of fake news that suits their purposes.

Former Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Sec. Trixie Cruz-Angeles admitted that Filipino social media influencers, mostly pro-Duterte, have attended a state-sponsored seminar in China.

Indeed, some of them admitted having attended China’s training course and have since been parroting China’s talking points on the West Philippine Sea. One of them admitted being a fake news purveyor when cornered that he falsely claimed that we are also using water cannons against the Chinese. If this act of treachery was just a livelihood, pang hanap buhay, there are more honorable ways of earning a living.

A study published in the Sage Journals pointed out that “the problem is not that politicians lie, or that disinformation is protected by free speech… With fake news, free speech is, in a sense, being weaponized as a mechanism to undermine existing social norms, often democratic ones. The weaponization is strategic and the threat should present itself once we know where to look and what to look for.”

Purveyors of fake news, here and in the West, are able to make ordinary citizens believe their lies. That poses considerable dangers to our democratic institutions. We have much work to do in defense of our cherished freedoms.

Boo Chanco’s email address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on X @boochanco