By Darryl John Esguerra | Philippine News Agency
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) has joined hands with giant social media companies in the Philippines to fight misinformation and disinformation.
During the UniComm 2024 gathering at Bayleaf Hotel in Intramuros, Manila on Saturday, PCO Undersecretary for Digital Media Services Emerald Ridao emphasized the need to put an end to misinformation and disinformation within the “digital sphere” against government programs and individuals.
“We are starting with our digital defense today because it is very clear to us that misinformation and disinformation campaigns against the government programs, and against the persons within the administration, are increasingly prevalent,” Ridao said in her speech.
“And so, we’re hoping that together, we can really put an end to this problem within our digital sphere,” she added.
Present during the “Tech Talks” discussion were officials from Meta, Google, and TikTok.
They shared their invaluable insights and expertise in combating misinformation and disinformation.
Meta public policy associate manager Genixon David reminded the public to always keep their social media accounts secured. Meta is the company behind Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp.
“As much as possible, let’s make our passwords strong and unique,” David said.
He also cautioned the public against using their name, birthday, address, or other identified data as their passwords, and reminded them to avoid using a single password in multiple social media accounts to avoid being compromised.
Google head of government affairs Yves Gonzales said YouTube does not allow contents that pose a serious risk of harm by spreading medical information that contradicts local health authorities or guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
Gonzales added that YouTube’s mission is to give the public a voice on social media and give them the go-to platform where they will learn, get entertained and create an audience through their channels.
“YouTube has basically democratized having an audience, as an open platform, users like you, [like] individual users and governments come to YouTube on a voluntary basis and you have full control over when, if and what kind of content you choose to upload,” he said.
For his part, TikTok head of public policy in the Philippines and Malaysia Toff Rada highlighted the significance of building “critical thinking” especially when users cannot distinguish between right and wrong content.
“Even if you remove the bad pieces of content, even if you put up the right pieces of content, if your user cannot distinguish between right and wrong, then it is of no use. So, I think we have to build that critical thinking,” Rada said.
The conference also tackled challenges faced by government agencies, including account hacking and the propagation of fake news.
Proposals were discussed to alleviate the risks, which include abstaining from the widespread reporting of compromised accounts and advocating for the cultivation of critical thinking skills.
