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MANILA (The Straits Times/ANN): A study that found that Filipinos see politicians as the top source of disinformation online has underlined the rise in distrust towards the country's leaders, amid intensifying rivalry between the Marcos and Duterte camps.
The 2025 Reuters Institute Digital News Report released on June 17 found that Filipinos are more likely than people in other countries to blame politicians for the spread of false information online.
According to the survey, 55 per cent of Filipino respondents identified politicians as major sources of disinformation, ahead of online influencers (48 per cent), activists (38 per cent), journalists (37 per cent), foreign governments (34 per cent), and others.
This is higher than the global average, where respondents generally identified both politicians and influencers as the biggest culprits in spreading disinformation, at 47 per cent each. The Reuters report polled 97,055 people in 48 territories in total, including 2,014 Filipinos.
The report noted that disinformation 'surged in the Philippines over the past year – fuelled by the widening political rift between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Vice-President Sara Duterte'.
'The fallout peaked with Duterte's impeachment in February, followed a month later by the arrest of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who faces charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his bloody war on drugs,' it said.
Associate Professor Danilo Arao, who teaches journalism at the University of the Philippines, told The Straits Times that Filipinos may have grown weary of what he described as a 'sustained, organised' operation of disinformation networks, which often parrot statements made by Filipino politicians.
He cited a probe by local newspaper The Philippine Star in March, which found that about 20 seemingly unconnected Facebook accounts had posted identical text framing former president Rodrigo Duterte's arrest by the ICC as 'kidnapping'.
These were similar to the statements made by Mr Duterte's children, several of whom hold elected posts in the Philippines.
'Of course, this went beyond the period of review of the Digital News Report, but these are continuing patterns of disinformation,' Prof Arao said.
'And when you have the government, especially certain government officials, spreading disinformation, then naturally, people will become disappointed.'
The Reuters survey, conducted from mid-January to late February in 2025, coincided with the start of the campaign period for the May midterm elections in the Philippines.
The percentage of Filipinos concerned about disinformation has gone up, the survey found, from 63 per cent in 2024 to 67 per cent in 2025.
The use of artificial intelligence-generated content to spread disinformation is a particular cause for concern.
On June 15, two Duterte allies – Senator Ronald dela Rosa and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, the Vice-President's brother – both shared on social media a video showing supposed interviews with male students condemning the moves of Marcos-allied lawmakers to impeach Ms Duterte.
But Mr dela Rosa later drew flak from social media users after fact-checkers from Philippine newsrooms such as Rappler and Tsek.ph found evidence that the video he shared was a deepfake generated by AI.
Defending himself, he said on June 16: 'I don't care if this post is AI-generated... because I am not after the messenger. I am after the message.'
This is part of a worrying trend in the Philippines, where politicians may not understand the perils of sharing AI-generated content, said political scientist Jean Encinas-Franco from the University of the Philippines.
'My sense is that very few politicians really understand what AI is all about. It's a little bit worrisome that they're not very concerned about the impact of how AI is used,' she said.
Also contributing to public anxiety over disinformation in the Philippines, noted Prof Arao and Dr Franco, are narratives backing Beijing's position in the maritime dispute over the South China Sea, where both the Philippines and China have competing claims.
In recent months, Philippine defence officials have raised concerns over alleged Chinese malign influence operations, including disinformation campaigns and suspected espionage activities in the country.
In April, Filipino Senator Francis Tolentino accused the Chinese Embassy in Manila of orchestrating a 'hidden and sinister' disinformation campaign to influence public opinion with pro-Beijing narratives, targeting not only the South China Sea dispute but also midterm election candidates critical of Beijing's claims. China has denied the allegations.
'We're dealing with sovereignty issues, and it's also very emotional because it's intricately linked with patriotism and sense of nationhood,' Dr Franco said.
'If you're a Filipino, and you see fake news articles that are pro-Beijing, you'll get mad about these things.'
Prof Arao said some Filipino content creators known to support the Dutertes often echo pro-China views, a holdover from the time Mr Duterte made a pivot towards Beijing during his presidency from 2016 to 2022.
Still, both analysts said domestic disinformation fuelled by local politicians and their supporters remains a bigger concern than foreign influence for now.
Mr Marcos has called for vigilance against disinformation amid his heated political rivalry with the Dutertes.
Yet, a 2022 study by researchers at the Philippine Media Monitoring Laboratory also found years-long disinformation attempts on social media to whitewash abuses during the nine brutal years of martial law under Mr Marcos' father, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
The same researchers said Mr Marcos himself benefited from these disinformation efforts when he ran successfully for president in 2022.
Prof Arao and Dr Franco said Filipinos have to be more discerning of the information they consume on social media. They said newsrooms should continue fact-checking efforts.
Prof Arao also suggested a revision of the school curriculum to integrate lessons on media literacy and fact-checking for students.
'We need critical thinking. We have to ensure that critical pedagogy will not be compromised and will not be discouraged in our educational system. That's how we fight disinformation,' he said. - The Straits Times/ANN