Democracy vs. Fake News

What I have witnessed and documented over the past decade is technology’s godlike power to infect each of us with a virus of lies, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger, and hatred, and accelerating the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world. - Maria Ressa

MARIA RESSA CO-FOUNDED RAPPLER, A DIGITAL-ONLY NEWS WEBSITE, IN 2012. Her ambition was to leverage social media platforms to create a new standard of investigative journalism in the Philippines. “At the time, I was the truest of true believers in the power of social media to do good in the world,” Ressa wrote in her memoir “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.” Platforms like Facebook allowed her team to crowdsource breaking news, find sources and tips, and inspire collective action.

However, within a few years, she saw firsthand the dangers that social media poses to democracy. “The Philippines is ground zero for the terrible effects that social media can have on a nation’s institutions, its culture, and the minds of its populace.”

The 2016 Philippine presidential election was a “watershed moment for the proliferation of fake news.” Rodrigo Duterte made powerful use of social media in his campaign which, according to Ressa, was the first time such platforms helped elect a president to office in the country.

FAKE NEWS (noun): News articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, designed to manipulate people’s perceptions of real facts and events.

Duterte’s campaign established a network of paid agencies and volunteers to distribute targeted messaging to various online communities. After he was elected, this network “became weaponized.” Their messaging continued and transformed into attacks against anyone who dared to speak out against the president. Fake accounts and bots were used to stifle dissent. The network distributed fake news, chipped away at facts, and sowed distrust, using “half-truths to fabricate an alternate reality.”

The dissemination of fake news did not subside when Duterte left office earlier this year. It reportedly shaped the outcome of the 2022 general election. According to a Philippine fact-checking coalition, nearly half of online disinformation found throughout the election cycle painted Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in a positive light while negatively targeting his opponent, Leni Robredo. Marcos Jr. experienced a “landslide” victory.

“We’ve seen the damage lies can do,” Ressa said in an April 2022 interview. “We know that it’s impossible to have integrity of elections when we don’t have integrity of facts.”

She and fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dmitry Muratov, presented a 10-point plan to address the global information crisis at the Freedom of Expression Conference this September. Ressa believes that with collective action, “we can hold power to account.”

All information sourced from Rappler.com and “How to Stand Up to a Dictator” by Maria Ressa.