“Lumalaki ang mga anak natin sa isang lipunan ng kasinungalingan (Our children are growing up in a society of lies). Empowering the public to seek out credible avenues for verified information should be a top priority.”

This is what Senator Risa Hontiveros had to say Thursday, Oct. 13 about the proliferation of fake news throughout the Internet, social media, and on television.

On Oct. 21, Pulse Asia released a survey pertaining to sources of fake news. In it, 60 percent of respondents found that the Internet, social media, and television were the most prolific sources of fake news, specifically on the subject of government and politics.

Interestingly, one percent of respondents found religious leaders to be sources of fake news.

READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/11/internet-tv-top-sources-of-fake-political-news-survey-says/

“We should legislate skills-based training and media literacy programs to help the public detect fake news and re-build the habit of truth seeking. This should be backed by a strong partnership between national and local government, schools, NGOs (non-government organizations) and other training institutes,” Hontiveros said.

“We should also consider adopting the European Union's practice of requiring social media companies to submit reports on how disinformation spreads on their platforms and its impact on our country. It's about time government pressures social media networks to be accountable,” the Minority senator said.

Pulse Asia’s survey reported that 58 percent of respondents labeled social media influencers, bloggers, and vloggers as peddlers of fake news.

“A people who are empowered to accept nothing short of the truth can starve fake news peddlers out of business. We expect government to lead the way by being uncompromising on the truth so that integrity becomes the norm again,” she concluded.