By Rodolfo Dacleson II
(July 20, 2024) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has launched a task force to address fake news, misinformation, and disinformation in the 2025 midterm elections.
The Comelec created Task Force Katotohanan, Katapatan at Katarungan (KKK) sa Halalan after consulting with industry experts and civil society organizations.
“(It) is a humble but valiant effort in setting forth the Comelec’s commitment in ensuring that the values of truth, honesty, and justice prevail in the spirit of a free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible elections towards a healthy democratic society,” said the Comelec in a media release last Thursday.
The task force will monitor and regulate published content on “quad-media,” referring to television, radio, print, and online. It will also debunk malicious and erroneous information against the Comelec, its officials, and electoral processes.
Sounding the alarm on artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes, the task force will also report and recommend for prosecution peddlers of false information.
The Comelec urged information technology and legal experts, among others, to assist in formulating policy guidelines regarding fake news, misinformation, and disinformation on social media and the internet.
“Cognizant of the uncertainties and difficulties in dealing with false information and malicious actors on the digital front, the Comelec at the outset deemed it best to engage and involve everyone through a consultative and collaborative process,” added the poll body.
The Comelec failed to curb the proliferation of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation during the 2022 elections, with Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr. benefiting the most from them, according to an independent fact-checking coalition.
Political observers also said Marcos’ landslide victory was aided by “historical revisionism,” with his supporters whitewashing his family’s past atrocities.
The Comelec said it will not hesitate to employ its power to ensure peaceful and credible elections amid the current legal framework limitations in regulating propaganda and prohibiting the propagation of false information.
Last May, the poll body asked lawmakers to pass a measure prohibiting the use of AI and deepfakes for campaign paraphernalia.
(PM)
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