EDITORIAL - Fighting disinformation

With the start of the official campaign period soon upon us, the Commission on Elections is moving to fight fake news and disinformation. In its latest move along this line, the Comelec has forged a partnership with social media giant TikTok.

The short-form video sharing platform, which is the subject of partial or total bans in several countries because it is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, does not accept political advertising in the Philippines. How far TikTok is willing or able to go in policing its content during the election period in the Philippines remains to be seen. In the United States, President Donald Trump has suspended the ban that his predecessor Joe Biden, citing national security concerns, wanted to impose on TikTok. But Trump still wants the company to be sold to an American owner.

The Comelec has also been working with social media giants Meta and Google to battle fake news, disinformation and other malicious content that undermine the elections. As shown in previous electoral exercises, the effort has had mixed results.

The challenge starts with identifying the purveyors of malicious digital content. The enactment of Republic Act No. 11934 in October 2022, the SIM Registration Act, has helped reduce cyberscam attempts and SPAM messages, according to agencies battling cybercrime. Considering the number of SIM cards confiscated from cybercrime hubs, however, it looks like RA 11934 is barely making a dent and needs fine-tuning or additional legislation.

In eight operations nationwide from Jan. 20 to 26 alone, the police Anti-Cybercrime Group reported confiscating 2,289 subscriber identity module cards that were being sold illegally. Thousands of SIM cards have been seized in raids on Philippine offshore gaming operator firms used as cyberscam hubs across the country.

There are proposals to restrict the sale of SIM cards to telecommunications companies, for proper registration of SIM ownership. This will work best if the telcos can access the database of the national identification system for proper verification of a SIM card buyer’s identity.

RA 11934 also does not cover over-the-top messaging platforms such as Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram. The National Telecommunications Commission has acknowledged this weakness and stressed that RA 11934 is no “silver bullet” against cyberscams.

However, there are reforms that can be undertaken to improve enforcement of the law and boost the battle against cybercrimes and the spread of fake news and disinformation. These reforms must be pushed to give more teeth to the efforts to promote the integrity of elections.