Post-truth Filipino Society: Where Lies Triumph Over Facts
Misinformation bloomed in the middle of the pandemic. Bots, propaganda, and trolls surfacing the entire cyberspace have caused Filipinos’ false perception to reality and further heightened polarization of their opinions. Dehumanizing language, distortion of facts, and hate posts are also proliferated.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), now that pandemic made physical interactions kneel down and access to the reality of the outside world can only be safely navigated through the internet, we are also plagued by the so-called “infodemic.”
In the most recent year, Philippines topped the world ranking of the heaviest social media users with at least three-fourths of the total population surfing through the internet. However, with these numbers, other statistics also showed that the country is often a target of disinformation and misinformation.
The country, in other reports, also ranked low among those that are digitally safe. Such a large discrepancy between the exposure and the security in talks online browsing done by the Filipinos allowed the political machination of “ampliganda,” or amplified propaganda.
And now given that social media platforms like TikTok is a powerful repository of bit-size information, everyone should also be wary of its lax in precision to its community standards. And this is where trolls, bot accounts, and peddlers of false and misleading information are paving their way in.
They often target those who have a narrow info system. Those who have a small virtual space where a particular type of information that is based on their digital psychographics is being resonated repeatedly. And when one starts to engage with it, the role of algorithm gets into the picture to surface more disinforming contents. Also, ampliganda. It shifts the narrative for many to see facts as products of political machinations. It’s a powerful, military-grade tool to influence people’s choices in the upcoming elections.
Now the problem is people are throwing the shade and hate solely on these social media platforms — TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and others.
Although they must be held accountable for allowing this disarray to happen in people’s social spheres, particularly the information ecosystem where everyone is relying on at this time of pandemic, people should also act against these social hazards in the internet. And resonate the act so that every person up to the grassroots level of society will be able to discern facts from lies.
In history during the primitive period, part of both human evolution and civilization is to adapt to the environment they belong to. From the most safe and effective habitat and resources it could offer up to the threats and disasters it might pose. It’s a basic human skill even other organisms have already mastered.
In history of world politics, dictatorships and authoritarian leaders ended up their toil for nothing. Because people didn’t like the way they govern. Apart from the fact that these leaderships were a total failure both economically and politically, they didn’t want their rights to be trampled on by someone they placed in the position of authority to rule their nation. So they resisted.
It serves us a lesson to adapt to the environment so that we can have deeper grasp of our reality, resist and hold those who have done us bad accountable. It is only then we can move on to a more elevated society of critical thinkers and active citizens taking an active part in a democratic country.
Now we live in a reality of a post-truth Filipino society. And now is the time to stand and act.
