‘New animal of disinformation’ may rise in 2025, group warns Comelec

Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) should brace itself for a “new animal of disinformation” for the 2025 elections, warned the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) on Tuesday.

In a committee hearing for House Bill (HB) 2820, or a proposal for the “Fair Elections Act” from Quezon 4th District Rep. Keith Micah “Mike” Tan, the challenges of disinformation proliferating on social media during campaign season were tackled.

There, Lente Executive Director Ona Caritos said that Comelec’s Campaign Finance Office (CFO) lacks the manpower and expertise to tackle the changing nature of disinformation sufficiently.

“Nung 2016, 2019 po, iba yung disinformation. It’s continuously evolving, so we also need to capacitate our Commission on Elections, specifically the Campaign Finance Office, to better address the future problems kasi hindi lang ito yung disinformation na makikita natin. It will evolve by 2025,” said Caritos.

(In 2016, and 2017, disinformation was different. It is continuously evolving, so we also need to capacitate our Commission on Elections, specifically the Campaign Finance Office, to better address future problems because this is not the only disinformation we will see. It will evolve by 2025.)

According to Caritos, the CFO operates on an ad hoc basis and is not permanent. She recommended that the bill should include a provision that will give the office a permanent staff that has data analysts as well, on top of lawyers and accountants.

“There’s a need for data analysts to monitor better what’s going on, especially in the disinformation world,” she said.

Based on Lente’s media monitoring, the 2022 elections saw the emergence of micro-influencers, said Caritos, which is a new development from past elections.

“We’ll see a new animal of disinformation, and we would want Comelec CFO to be better prepared to address this new animal of disinformation by 2025,” she said.

The committee took note of these suggestions, which will be taken into account during the revision of the bill.

HB 2820 seeks to “regulate the use of the internet and the social media as a lawful election propaganda” while empowering Comelec to monitor partisan activities. The law also aims to help enforce the Cybercrime Prevention Act of  2012.

The bill was approved during the hearing, and will now undergo second reading.

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