On January 12, the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes held their 3rd hearing to look into the proliferation of disinformation—a deliberate spread of false information to deceive people—across social media platforms.
Senators Francis Pangilinan and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon filed Senate Resolution 953 stating the review of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 because it was passed when social media platforms and technologies “were still smaller than what they are today.”
Panel Chairman Pangilinan talks about the rise of people spreading false information amidst a pandemic during his opening statement.
“Infodemic threatens the very fiber of our decency as a people,” he said.
The committee hearing opened the discussion on the disinformation ecosystem, also to find “solutions” to address disinformation.
Ressa on ‘quick solution’ to address disinformation
At the committee hearing, Nobel peace laureate and Rappler CEO, Maria Ressa, was invited as a resource speaker, and she discussed the disinformation networks affecting social media users’ democracy.
In her presentation, she cited the US Capitol attack, where she discussed the “possible worst-case scenario” should disinformation be used as a weapon and also how this system could “bring down a functioning democracy.”
She also cited a UNESCO study that stated that women journalists often receive more attacks than men, and she added that in the Philippines, even women politicians are also “inordinately” attacked.
She stressed that “online violence is real-world violence.”
Senators Pangilinan and Drilon asked Ressa for possible legislation to handle disinformation and “trolls” on social media.
Ressa responded that it “requires governments to step in” where she said that the senate could draft legislation that could make social media platforms liable for allowing false information to spread online.
She went on to say that this could happen in the Philippines, as opposed to the United States, where Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act exists which protects website platforms from any liability for content posted by their users.
“The quick solution would be to actually hold the platforms accountable for what they spread, what they allow to spread, and when you do that, I bet you that you would automatically see a shrinking of information operations,” Ressa said.
This is supported by her earlier statement during the hearing on how social media uses its algorithms to determine what kind of information a user continually gets recommended, further dividing people.
“Facebook is now the world’s largest distributor of news and yet studies have shown that lies laced with anger and hate spread faster and further than the really boring facts.”
She also raised potential concerns on censorship should the legislation focus on content. Therefore, she suggests focusing on preventing these algorithms from being used by “trolls” to spread false information online.
“Don’t intervene in the content, because then you can actually be accused of censorship, but if you go to the algorithm of amplification… there have been no guardrails on the distribution of lies,” she said.
