‘KEEP ON RESISTING’ | Trolls, fake news peddlers ‘way ahead’ as 2022 elections near, says Hontiveros

July 14, 2021 , 11:00 AM

By Kiko Demigillo

(July 14, 2021) – Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday admitted that trolls and peddlers of false information already have an advantage in the 2022 elections, citing the lack of ample time to combat them.

Despite this, Hontiveros urged Filipinos to be more defiant and more discerning and keep fighting through the widespread misinformation on social media.

“We have to keep on resisting being shut down and our voices silenced, so to whatever volume we can keep those voices out there, put out information, truth, we must keep at it,” said Hontiveros on One News’ The Chiefs.

Hontiveros also underscored that contrary to the claims of critics, they have been constantly raising trolls and fake news purveyors as a long-withstanding issue and not just for the 2022 elections.

“Excuse me, ‘di ito unang pagkakataon na ni-raise nito ng oposisyon at ng mga mamamayan dahil dahil ‘di rin ito ang unang pagkakataon that this phenomenon has raised its ugly head,” said Hontiveros.

She warned that troll farms will likely be used again in the upcoming polls, as weaponizing them proved to be successful in the 2016 and 2019 elections.

“I remember very vividly in my imagination a (Senate) committee hearing soon after President (Rodrigo Duterte) won, napag-usapan ‘yung napaka-successful social media campaign nila noong 2016. I can’t forget, one secretary said with a smile ‘I think we’ll sustain our social media operations,'” said Hontiveros.

Duterte admitted in 2017 that he used “online defenders” during his presidential campaign, reportedly spending over P10 million.

On Monday, half of the Senate, including Hontiveros, filed a resolution seeking an inquiry on reports that public funds were being used by “state-backed and state-funded spreaders” to spread false information on social media to malign government critics.

This comes after the hiring spree of contractual workers of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) last year got flagged by the Commission on Audit, leading some to allege that they are paid trolls.

But PCOO undersecretary Kris Ablan justified the move, saying they are “social media specialists.”

Last June, Sen. Ping Lacson revealed that a certain undersecretary was organizing two troll farms per province in the runup to the 2022 elections.

Hontiveros is optimistic that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter will cooperate in the Senate inquiry.

“Some (troll) farms have actually been found in the past few years through the efforts of social media activists at ‘yung mismong social media platforms at sila ay nagsimula na rin to take down some of these sites and to make accountable certain individuals who are responsible, said Hontiveros.” (PM)

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