Defend free speech

Just last week, both Senator Antonio Trillanes and Senator Francis Pangilinan filed separate Senate resolutions with similar targets in their crosshairs: Social media and fake news. While both resolutions are somehow necessary, the motive behind it is questionable due to several reasons. Like, why was it limited only to social media if Senate Resolution 259, filed by Trillanes, was meant to “come up with remedial legislation to protect the public from manipulation through the spread of false, erroneous, distorted, fabricated and/or misleading news and information”; and in Resolution 271, filed by Pangilinan, it is stated that “the propagation of fake news stories has become an effective weapon of several political operatives to influence public opinion and national discourse.” The point here is that while these points are valid when we talk about social media, distorted and misleading news can also be found in mainstream media which could also be used to influence the opinion of the people. This then raises the questions whether these resolutions were specifically aimed at the platform they could not control and whether these could be used to silence those critical of their political allies?

In her privilege speech to apparently support the two Senate resolutions filed by her colleagues and allies in the Senate, Senator Leila De Lima included “Thinking Pinoy” in her powerpoint presentation as one of the sources of fake news. What’s alarming about this is that TP is a blogger who is known to be critical of several politicians like Senator De Lima and Vice President Robredo. With his inclusion in the list of “fake news” and convenient exclusion of any anti-Duterte pages, I cannot help but wonder who will be deciding what is fake and what is not; are they really pushing for a battle against fake news or are they using it as a mask to hide their true intention: to quell those who are going against them by way of discrediting them?

Another blog that has been tagged as fake news is Trending News Portal. While they have some articles that seem dubious, most of their articles use mainstream media as source, they are the ones I’m sharing on my blog. The reason why I choose to share blogs rather than direct from mainstream media is simply because they both earn through advertisements, but why should we put more money on the pocket of rich people instead of the small bloggers, which also lead us to question if the declining engagement of some major mainstream media has been a factor to these Senate resolutions?

Frankly, I think one of the reasons some mainstream media are losing engagement in social media is because they are losing the trust of the people. Yes, not all blogs always post authentic news but the problem is the same with some mainstream media who are supposed to be the “credible” source of information, not a tool to condition the mind of their viewers/readers. Nowadays, people are encouraged to do their research on the topics that they see both in blogs and even in  mainstream media, because we have seen in several news reports their use of misleading headlines and some chopped statements of President Duterte in order to fit in their article and the image that they want to portray to the people. It is also clear that mainstream media could be used as an instrument to influence the mindset of the Filipinos.

Seeing the capacity of some mainstream media to be biased and to be used to build or destroy the character of a person, I wonder why Senators Trillanes, Pangilinan and De Lima choose to target only the social media? Are they really going against fake news or the people who does not support their views?

Are they really fighting for the good of Filipinos or their own? Are they even fighting for Filipinos or just fighting to get back to power?

Just recently the facebook page of Senyora Santibañez was deactivated by facebook, could this be a part of what they will fight for in the Senate or will this be one of the things they would encourage especially when it comes to pro-Duterte pages: to limit or silence the voice of those who go against them?
Which is why we must be vigilant when it comes to these resolutions; to make sure that they would truly be used for the people and not against the people who go against them.

(References: Senate Resolution 259: senate.gov.ph/lisdata/2524821744!.pdf Senate Resolution 271: www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/2527821774!.pdf)