Eighteen major business, civic and professional organizations have issued a Statement Against Disinformation and Hate Speech in Social Media and Other Platforms.

They expressed concern over the misguided use of “media, social media and other platforms... to spread disinformation and hate speech, resulting in erroneous beliefs, confusion, and division.” They deplored that this has spawned mistrust and disunity especially amid the pandemic — and that “this abuse has spiked during this election season.”

Specific examples of abuse cited by them are “lies, personal attacks, trolling, misogyny, “red-tagging,” and many more, sometimes putting people at risk of physical harm.”

They called on operators of media platforms to “declare to their users and the public the steps they are taking to stop or curtail this.”

They urged the business sector to “evaluate the platforms they advertise in -- including social media, messaging apps, broadcast, and print -- in terms of whether and how much disinformation and hate speech they allow” and to rethink their advertising spending in this light.

Their summary call to action was clear: “Finally we call on our countrymen and women to evaluate political players as well as these media and communications platforms on these same terms, and use their votes and clicks to promote truth and civility in the coming elections.”

With the onset of social media, mainstream news media organizations have become even more mindful of the utmost importance of accuracy in news reporting. Professional journalists have been trained to perform thorough fact checking and verification.

It is indeed a sad commentary that, with the proliferation of social media, the level of disinformation has escalated as the primacy of truth has been decimated. Recall that Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year in 2016 was “post-truth” — an adjective defined as "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."

Fake news has proliferated as the use of social media has escalated. All at once private individuals have fancied themselves as reporters and publishers — mindlessly passing on unverified information to unsuspecting and indiscriminate recipients of text messages and posts. While certain institutions have established fact-checking services, the sheer volume of social media communications defies any serious endeavor to conduct purposive verification.

We support the call for adherence to truth and civility that is anchored upon accurate reporting and responsible communication.

We laud the initiative of the organizations that issued the joint statement of concern: the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club(MBC), Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCI), Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), Cebu Business Council (CBC) Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB), Energy Lawyers Association of the Philippines (ELAP), Filipina CEO Circle (FCC), Integrity Initiative Inc., Investment Houses Association of the Philippines (IHAP), Judicial Reform Initiative (JRI), Mindanao Business Council, Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA), Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), and Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA).