9 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
TikTok fuelling rise of fascist youth movement in the Philippines, experts warn
In a
TikTok video viewed more than 170,000 times, the eyes of senatorial candidates from the
Philippines ' ruling coalition are blacked out with a caption that reads: 'Liberal politics is the most corrupt thing you can get.'
Another video, more ominous still, flashes the phrase 'Fight them before they kill you' over symbols of Muslims, Jews, communists, Freemasons and the LGBTQ community – each struck through by a sword.
They are just a few examples of an increasingly visible fringe movement brewing in the Philippines' online underworld, where a new generation of far-right extremists is using social media platforms such as TikTok and Discord to recruit, radicalise and rally disaffected youth.
The movement, known as the Philippine Falangist Front (PFF), is part of a small but growing network of digital communities promoting fascist ideology in Southeast Asia, according to a recent study by the Global Network on Extremism and Technology.
Example of Philippine Falangist Front (PFF) online propaganda. Photo: TikTok
Their message is incendiary: the Philippines is a nation in crisis, and only a return to authoritarian Catholic rule can restore order.
'They commonly produce content or engage in discussions lamenting the Philippines' and the world's descent into a so-called godless society,' said Saddiq Basha, the report's author and a research analyst at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
