“It is a threat to the soul of our country.”
“It is a threat to the soul of our country.”
This article is co-authored with Atty. Grace Salonga, a co-convenor of the Movement against Disinformation (MAD) of which I am lead convenor and Chair of the Steering Committee.
Last week, on Wednesday, 17 November, we launched online this broad nonpartisan coalition of members from the academe, the legal profession, civil society groups, international and local non-government organizations and other advocacy groups, united to push back against the systematic and unregulated spread of disinformation in social media.
Among its members are the Philippine Bar Association, Philippine Chapter-New York Bar Association, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Ateneo de Naga, Ateneo de Davao, Xavier University, Alternative Law Groups, Ateneo Human Rights Center, SALIGAN, Karapatan, iDefend, Fact Check Philippines, Wiki Society of the Philippines, Pinoy Media Center, Foundation for Media Alternatives, Ateneo Sanggunian, and members of the faculty of Ateneo Law.
As convenors of MAD, we introduced MAD to the public and the press. We were joined. by the other convenors: Atty. Enrique Domingo of the Philippine Bar Association, SAMASA Chair Atty. Susan Villanueva, Dean Domnina Rances of Ateneo de Naga College of Law, Atty. Ernesto Neri of Xavier University College of Law, Dean Sol Mawis of Lyceum of the Philippines College of Law, Dr. Anton Lim and Josh Mahinay of Now You Vote, Carlos Nazareno of Wiki Society of the Philippines, Albert Pagunsan of Fact Check Philippines, Professors Fred Mison and Grip Bueta of Ateneo Law School, Niza Concepcion of iDefend, Lisa Garcia of the Foundation for Media Alternatives, Gian Miko L. Arabejo of the Alternative Law Groups, student leaders Kara Angan and Tea Abastillas of the ADMU Loyola Schools Sanggunian, and many others.
In the launch, it was explained that considering that the social media are being weaponized to suppress dissent and to spread disinformation, our coalition shall strongly form and carry out a nonpartisan and organized campaign on multiple fronts to address this serious social problem. The social media platform, in the context of the pandemic, has become our public square. This is where we get our news, our facts, discuss ideas and develop and shape our opinions and views about society, for example, on whom to vote for as President in 2022. We need to be capacitated and proactive in ensuring that it is not polluted with misleading, and deceiving narratives that distort reality, and that prevent people from making informed decisions.
MAD’s objectives are: (a) to increase awareness about (i) Disinformation, (ii) its manner of spreading (modus operandi), (iii) its enablers and propagators, and (iv) its impact on the citizens and society; (b) to build capacity in spotting and identifying disinformation (i.e., fact checking); (c) to develop means and methods of countering Disinformation (i.e., establish formal/informal channels with the online soc med platforms to discuss and resolve concerns about Disinformation); (d) to engage and collaborate with social media platforms to develop measures that could permanently address the problem about Disinformation; (e)to initiate, draft and lobby proposed legislations and policies that could address, mitigate and control, if not eliminate, Disinformation in social media platforms; (f) to encourage lawyers and those in the legal profession to participate and contribute in mitigating and/or countering Disinformation within the bounds of law; and (g) to organize and mobilize volunteers from various sectors through information campaign and activities that would promote coordination and synergy among various groups.
Our first initiative, which is related to the upcoming 2022 Philippine national elections, is to engage with Facebook, one of the dominant social media platforms in the Philippines. We sent a letter to Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other corporate officials, including its country director in the Philippines, strongly reminding the social media company of its corporate responsibility to respect human rights in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other international human rights norms.
During the launch, MAD convenor Atty. Enrique Domingo read the demands of the coalition for Facebook to, among others, consistently and transparently engage with actors from Philippine civil society, media, academia, and election-monitoring groups in creating, improving, and implementing moderation initiatives. We emphasized that engagement and cooperation with trusted partners on the ground should go beyond formal occasional meetings. Facebook should also establish and maintain open communication channels and mechanisms with trusted partners especially during ongoing national emergencies, including election period.
The letter to Facebook is a call for action. Facebook has a significant role in ensuring clean and fair elections in the Philippines in 2022. It should not allow itself to be used, exploited, and weaponized against Philippine democracy again.
As Atty. Domingo underscored during the launch, we look forward to having a dialogue with Facebook to find ways to collaborate and work together to achieve our common goal to address electoral disinformation in view of the upcoming 2022 Philippine national elections.
We concluded the launch by framing disinformation as a threat to the soul of our country. It is not only the truth that is its casualty. Disinformation creates distrust and disunity and abets violence as we have seen in the case of red-tagging human rights and environmental defenders. It undermines and can destroy our democracy.
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