Last week, the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) held a webinar on social media (socmed) and ethical issues. Tech law expert Atty. Edsel Tupaz headlined the seminar via Zoom titled “Ethics Chasing Technology” which was presented by the FINEX Ethics Committee.
Tupaz is a Senior Partner of Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra Law Offices. He is concurrently the head of cybersecurity, data privacy, and AI initiatives, as well as special projects on infrastructure at the country’s top-tier technology and legal services firm.
Citing several case studies involving Gamestop, Reddit, Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Dell, Tupaz emphasized the need to develop an effective social media policy and a robust social media risk management system. He said the ethical use of socmed requires adherence to data protection laws because it wields significant power in shaping public perception and brand reputation.
Another key takeaway from Tupaz’s presentation is that media information literacy is key in combating misinformation and fake news on socmed platforms. This is essential to uphold public trust and prevent issues arising from misleading information.
Take, for example, the recent exposé of Reuters news agency regarding the Pentagon’s clandestine psychological operation initiated during the Trump administration in mid-2020 to discredit Chinese-made vaccines that targeted the Philippines among other Southeast Asian countries. The UK-based news agency’s investigative report stated: “At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the US military launched a secret campaign to counter China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China.”
This resulted in the hesitance of many Filipinos to get inoculated with Sinovax, the first anti-Covid vaccine to be rolled out in early 2021. At that time, the Chinese vax was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) along with those from Pfizer of the US and AstraZeneca of the UK. According to WHO data, the number of infections in the Philippines reached more than four million by 2024, with almost 67,000 Filipinos dying due to Covid-19.
American daily newspaper USA Today explained how the disinformation campaign was carried out by the US Department of Defense: “Through phony internet accounts with tens of thousands of followers meant to impersonate Filipinos, social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits, and China’s Sinovac shot.”
The Reuters report triggered an investigation by the Philippine Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations chaired by Senator Imee Marcos. At a public hearing last June 25, Marcos described the US military’s anti-vax campaign as “evil, wicked, dangerous, and unethical.” She wondered whether it violated international law and questioned the Department of Foreign Affairs' inaction regarding the Pentagon’s disinformation campaign against Sinovac.
On July 26, Reuters disclosed that “the US Defense Department admitted that it spread propaganda in the Philippines aimed at disparaging China’s Sinovac vaccine during the Covi-19 pandemic. The Pentagon also conceded it had ‘made some missteps in our COVID related messaging' but assured the Philippines that the military ‘has vastly improved oversight and accountability of information operations’ since 2022.”
However, Reuters also revealed that “the Philippines’ defense and foreign affairs departments did not respond to requests for comment about the US military’s admission that it ran the propaganda program.” Why then is there a deafening silence among our top executive and legislative officials about such a psy-ops campaign that made Filipinos the guinea pigs?
In an article for this paper last week titled “Chinese Vaccines Saved Millions of Lives, including My Own” by Dr. Edsel Salvaña, the multi-awarded infectious diseases scientist lamented: “It is truly disheartening to learn that an ally would do such a thing, even as a pandemic was raging around the world and was threatening to kill millions of people.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, herself a prime target of fake news and online harassment, had warned us about the dark side of social media during three FINEX events where she was our keynote speaker. Her views have been validated in the Netflix docudrama titled “The Social Dilemma” – with tech experts from Silicon Valley sounding the alarm on the dangerous impact of social networking.
Therefore, as Tupaz concluded in his FINEX presentation, fostering trust and building public confidence should be the main objectives of socmed. He believes that “promoting respectful engagement on social media platforms can help reduce online harassment and foster a more positive and ethical online community.”
J. Albert Gamboa is a Life Member of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) and Vice-Chair of the FINEX Ethics Committee. The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and the Manila Bulletin. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph