EDITORIAL - Weapons of mass distraction

In the digital age, politicians have learned to harness social media to advance their causes and project themselves, but also to subject opponents to dirty tricks and harass critics.

Social media giant Facebook has been weeding out clone or dummy accounts that appear to have been set up by trolls in several countries including the United States and the Philippines. In the first quarter of 2020 alone, Facebook reported taking down 1.7 billion fake accounts worldwide. But the trolls play a game of cat-and-mouse, and continue setting up the dummy accounts.

In March 2019, Facebook removed a network of 200 pages for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” Facebook identified its operator as Nic Gabunada Jr., who was the social media manager of Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016 campaign. Gabunada’s legal team recently defended as “aboveboard” a contract worth P909,122 that he has won, to serve as communications strategy consultant of the Department of Finance from June 16 to Dec. 15 this year. The DOF has defended the award of the deal, saying it was meant to push for the remaining tax and economic reform programs of the administration.

Troll attacks are now among the hazards faced by politicians. In the Philippines, opposition members and journalists critical of the administration have received an inordinate share of the attacks.

Now at least 12 senators, many of them top troll targets, want to investigate if public funds are being used to finance the troll farms to sow disinformation against those who do not support the administration. The senators described the troll farms as “weapons of mass distraction” that undermine democracy and bring down the level of public discourse to obscenities and personal attacks.

With the approach of the 2022 general elections, the senators are calling for “troll disarmament.” This war could be as complicated as containing COVID. “Disarmament” will need expert help and the full cooperation of the platforms that are used for disinformation.