Opposition Senator Francis ‘’Kiko’’ Pangilinan on Wednesday, January 12 said he shares the sentiment of Nobel Prize winner Maria Reesa that “infodemic” threatens democracy.
“’Infodemic’ threatens the very fiber of our decency as a people. The situation has gone so very bad that even the traditionally quiet community of 18 business groups issued a statement against disinformation and hate speech,” Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes committee, said.
The lawmaker vowed that he would support any move that would hold accountable the individuals behind the proliferation of fake news and the channels that amplify the same.
“We must have laws that are up-to-date, responsive to the needs of the times, foolproof as best at it can be against the ingenious minds of criminals ika’ nga... We have to craft new laws or legislation cognizant of the new complications that technology poses,” Pangilinan said.
“Sama-sama po nating iilawan ang madilim na mundo ng ‘infodemic’(We are together in putting light to the dark world of infodemic). As we grapple for sharper weapons to defeat the night, we shall remember that our torches are puny when alone. Light shines brightest when all the torches stand together in firm defiance of evil,” he added.
To have an “integrity of elections” in 2022, the country should defeat disinformation as soon as possible, Ressa said at the Pangilinan committee investigation on the disinformation machinery online.
“If we don’t have an integrity of facts, we will not have integrity of elections. If you look at every study of fascism globally, they first tear down the facts,” she said.
“Facebook is now the world’s largest distributor of news and yet studies have shown that lies laced with anger and hate spread faster and further than the really boring facts. So the reality is, the platforms that deliver the facts to you are biased against facts, they are biased against journalists. And they are, by design, dividing us and radicalizing us,” she added.
According to Ressa, one of the faster ways to defeat disinformation is to create a law that would penalize technology and social media companies that continue to allow disinformation and misinformation to proliferate in their platforms.
“In our country, what can we do? The quick solution would be to actually hold the platforms accountable for what they spread, what they allow to spread. And when you do that, I bet you that you would automatically see a shrinking of information operations,” Ressa said.
For Ressa, the “infodemic” online has catapulted the narratives of populist regimes, including President Rodrigo Duterte’s “us vs them” narrative, which has now further divided the Filipino people.
As to the fears that the legislation might trample on freedom of speech, Ressa argued that it is the algorithm of the distribution channels that are seeking to be controlled and not the content.
“So where are you going to intervene? Don’t intervene in the content because you can actually be accused of censorship,” Ressa explained.
“But if you go to the algorithms of amplification... because everyone can say what they think. But what your neighbor said never reaches broadcast scale until today, because there have been no guardrails on the distribution of lies,” she added.