The other virus

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières/rsf.org), an international NGO that works for freedom of the press and of information, published two weeks ago its 2021 World Press Freedom Index. In it, the RSF raised concerns about the disinformation virus that is affecting countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Incidentally, countries with populist governments and where misinformation and disinformation are prevalent, are also the places where COVID-19 is wreaking havoc. The Philippines, the worst performing country in Southeast Asia in terms of pandemic response, is mentioned in the international media, although its situation cannot be compared to the catastrophe in India and Brazil.

“Illiberal populism” and disinformation are like an inseparable couple. Where one exists, there is always the other. Today, the two have another company – the deadly pandemic surge. Along with the latter is the problem of vaccine hesitancy and misleading “quick cure” claims (e.g. Ivermectin) that completely disregard the system and discipline of medical science.

That the three (populism, disinformation, and COVID-19 surge) seem to co-exist makes me think: Which of the three caused the two others? This isn’t exactly a chicken-and-egg situation. As a Communication graduate, I can identify misinformation and disinformation as the root problem.

For this piece, let me first tackle the correlation between disinformation and populism using our national context. The other correlation, which is between disinformation and the COVID-19 surge, will be covered in my succeeding column.

There is an information warfare being waged out there, the extent and sophistication of which you may be ignorant about. Such ignorance leaves you stumped at the seeming erosion of public support for democratic ideals and the diminished influence of mainstream media institutions.

If you must be able to grasp what’s going on, then learn how to really effectively deal with misinformation, propaganda and fake news. Expand your circle to include the younger blood with the competencies to tackle the scale and sophistication of misinformation and disinformation online.

Misinformation, propaganda, and fake news are very powerful weapons because of their stealth; it takes a great deal of sophistication and analysis to know they exist at a scale that can be effectively used against the community.

More than 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook by more than half a billion people every day. YouTube has more than 2 billion monthly users visiting the video-sharing platform, who watch 250 million hours of video daily.

I invite you to take a cursory inventory of YouTube and Facebook accounts, pages and postings that are related to politics and political personalities in our country. If you identify yourself with the pro-democratic forces in our country, it’s time to burst your own information bubble.

Rather than complain about the latest Pulse Asia survey showing the incumbent and their probable successors enjoy high popularity ratings, find out what is really happening: why people are still choosing that which are obviously not good for them as has been demonstrated in this pandemic crisis.

People act based on their perceived realities. They decide based on the information they receive and process. The tools of misinformation and disinformation may be simple and common (words, images, sound). But misinformation and disinformation are complex in every way because they are “crafted by minds to affect minds.”

There’s just about a year to go until May 9, 2022, the next general election. Any serious political party planning for change cannot afford to ignore the giant role that misinformation and disinformation play a year prior to the election. (To be continued)