'Influencers' agree: House disinfo hearing upholds free speech, social media needs regulation
MANILA, Philippines — At the House Tri-Committee hearing on disinformation, present content creators and vloggers agreed with lawmakers that content regulation is needed on social media.
Of over 40 social media users invited, several of whom had thousands of followers and expressed support for the Duterte family, only three attended the first hearing on Tuesday, February 4.
Some of these resource persons have been fact-checked for false, inaccurate or misleading claims.
In the excuse letters of those absent, some declined the invitation arguing that the hearing violated their freedom of speech, some saying the legislative inquiry was unconstitutional.
“The reason that their freedom of speech is being curtailed cannot be used. You were invited here to express your views as well. Isn't this the proper exercise of freedom of expression?” Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Surigao del Norte, 2nd District) said in Filipino.
He asked political strategist Malou Tiquia, one of the invited social media influencers, whether she believed the hearing had breached their right to freedom of expression and speech.
“The fact that I agreed to appear and honor your invitation, and I was given the chance to say what I want to say, I don’t think that is a curtailment of my right to expression,” Tiquia said.
She also agreed with Barbers that legislation is needed to enforce discipline and create a regulatory framework for content on social media.
“To directly respond to Congressman Barbers, yes, for the simple reason that the decency of the space has been grossed so much. So, yes,” Tiquia said, adding that some statements online are actually slanderous and libelous.
Vlogger Marc Louie Gamboa also said in Filipino: “We should also look for ways to minimize or prohibit [disinformation] without curtailing everyone’s freedom of speech.”
Barbers also clarified that the hearing did not only invite the vloggers and social media users to the hearing. The Tri-Comm has also invited experts and members of the academe who have studied the proliferation of disinformation in the country.
The joining committee also invited representatives of major social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, but they were not present.
What experts said
Some of those are Ellen Tordesillas, president of the fact-checking organization VERA Files; Rachel Khan, a journalism professor at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication; and Jonathan Ong, disinformation researcher.
Tordesillas explained that the responsibility of fact-checking should not fall solely on fact-checkers. She agreed that revisiting existing laws, such as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, is essential to establish a code of ethics or regulatory framework for online content.
Meanwhile, Ong stressed that different kinds of legislation should be considered, not just imprisonment and fines penalizing social media users.
He added that it can also be focused on “content corrections” or “administrative compliance measures” that bring firms to participate in transparency mechanisms.
Ong also said addressing disinformation needs to be “civil society-driven” and contextualized with the local situation.
Where were the other ‘influencers’?
Some of the social media influencers absent had actively posted their comments online during the hearing. Several bloggers and vloggers also expressed their intention to file a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the Supreme Court.
A petition for certiorari is a legal remedy used to challenge a court, tribunal or government agency for acting without jurisdiction or committing grave abuse of power.
Meanwhile, a petition for prohibition, if granted by the Supreme Court, would halt the legislative inquiry.
According to former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, the legal counsel of the vloggers, the petitioners include political commentators Ernesto “Jun” Abines, Mark Anthony Lopez and Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) host Lorraine Badoy.
Badoy was convicted of indirect contempt for red-tagging a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge.
The Quezon City RTC also ruled her claims about broadcast journalist Atom Araullo and his mother being linked to communist groups as defamatory.
RELATED: Atom Araullo wins P2M damages in red-tagging case vs Badoy, Celiz
Several of those invited to the hearing but absent were also among the petitioners.
The Tri-Comm issued a show cause order to several absent resource persons after lawmakers deemed their excuses "invalid."
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