Disinformation can damage democracy especially when elections in a country is drawing near, a lawyer and anti-fake news advocate said on Thursday.
On The Howie Severino Podcast, Antonio La Viña, convenor of Movement against Disinformation (MAD), warned against disinformation on its effect on a person’s decision to vote.
“It’s a system that we are talking about. Not just tidbits, not just scoops but a whole system of disinformation or wrong information being given,” La Viña told journalist Howie Severino.
“So because of that, people can wrongly decide kung sino ang iboboto nila kasi it’s not, it’s misinformation, it’s not the truth that they are hearing. It’s a whole system that’s coming at them,” he added.
(People can decide wrongly on who they will vote for.)
La Viña said if disinformation during elections would not be addressed, it could destroy democracy in the country.
“But right now, the election is the most important thing kasi mayroon tayong election sa May 2022 (because we have elections in May 2022). At ‘pag hindi natin ito hinarap, this will destroy our democracy. Itong disinformation system na ito. (If we won’t face a disinformation system, we will destroy our democracy.),” La Viña said.
To prevent posting of disinformation on Facebook, La Viña said social media giant Facebook should review its policies.
“Hindi namin nakikita ‘yung Meta (We don’t see Meta), the new company, the new name of Facebook as a corporate. We don’t see them as an enemy,” La Viña said.
“We want to engage them, look at their policies, how their policies change kung hindi siya effective, and in particular, confront them on specific disinformation that might be disseminated still through Facebook despite the different ways that they have tried to fix this for us,” he added.
Previously, MAD also wrote a letter to Facebook on November 17, wherein it asked the social media giant to enforce policies to promote safe and free elections in the country.
At the podcast, La Viña said Facebook had replied but did not yet give a substantial response to their request.
La Viña said they would hope that legal action can be taken against those spreading disinformation, if necessary.
Asked about what kind of legal actions, La Viña said they could file a complaint before the Commission on Elections or lodge a libel suit.
“Well, for example, if campaign themselves become responsible, makita namin they’re responsible for disseminating ano, anything from libel to Comelec action, ‘di ba, na mayroon namang option sa Comelec,” he said.
(If campaigns themselves become responsible, when we see that they are responsible for disseminating as such, it could be libel or Comelec action. There is an option at the Comelec.) -Consuelo Marquez/NB, GMA News
How disinformation can destroy democracy, Tony La Viña explains on the Howie Severino Podcast
Source: Pinoy Hub News
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