By AARON ERNEST CRUZ
Bulatlat.com

RODRIGUEZ, Rizal – The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) opposed the government’s effort to regulate media content in fighting disinformation.

During the House of Representatives tri-committee hearing on cybercrime and fake news, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Jay Ruiz emphasized that online disinformation, especially during the pre-election period, is a growing threat that needs to be addressed urgently.

Ruiz asserted that “fake news” should be defined through legislation and regulatory measures on social media should be explored to establish appropriate penalties for the spread of disinformation online.

The grounds for Ruiz’s proposal came from a case he cited where Meta rejected their request to delete a fabricated memorandum allegedly from the Office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.

Meta also rejected the joint request of PCO and the Department of Information and Communications Technology to take down a clearly fabricated memorandum due to policies on freedom of expression. 

In response, NUJP acknowledged the threat of disinformation online but reiterated that pushing for regulation measures is not much of a solution.

“We recognize the threat that disinformation poses on discourse and on democracy but we have also seen how the charge of ‘fake news’ has been weaponized in the previous administration and in the present one,” the statement read.

There were previous bills on “fake news”, the recent one is from Cagayan De Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez to address the increasing cases of disinformation especially in last election period.

Instead of regulation measures, the group recommends enhancing the policies for transparent and accessible access to information from the government. The NUJP added that “critical thinking and media and information literacy would do more against ‘fake news’ than allowing the bureaucracy to decide what is fake and what isn’t.”

For Movement Against Disinformation (MAD), the government should shift its focus on regulating big technology companies that control social media platforms.

MAD explained that social media platforms are the reason why disinformation has been spreading much faster. Although these platforms are widely accessible to the general public, their operations are based on business models that target specific audiences.

Citing Meltwater and We Are Social, Pulse Asia reiterated that 86.75 million Filipinos spend time on social media and Facebook is their preferred platform for accessing news.

This is concerning for MAD given that, based on an SWS survey, 59 percent of Filipinos consider disinformation as a serious concern and 65 percent of them also find it hard to distinguish if the information contains fact or not. 

Social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube use engagement-driven algorithms and are heavily reliant on advertising. As long as the contents are engaging, vloggers and influencers who propagate misleading posts earn much from it, encouraging disinformation by providing more space from troll farms and disinformation peddlers.

NUJP also calls out social media platforms to enhance their enforcement on community standards, and be more responsive when users report harmful content.

“We also reiterate a call by disinformation researchers from nearly half a decade ago for a civil society-led effort to find and expose disinformation networks and their clients,” NUJP concluded. (RTS, RVO)