Uncritical Filipino voters

It will be election day in less than a month, and a quiet dread/desperation is palpable in some sectors of the Philippine society, on who will be elected to the local and national positions. At a certain stage of democracy in developing countries like the Philippines, election anomalies like terrorism, cheating, vote buying, and other illegal suppressions/manipulations by politicians are unavoidable. As long as these are not at excessive levels, and the election results show the will of the people, most of the citizens calm down and the government will move on. It is when the elections are blatantly/shamelessly stolen that protests happen and eventually revolutions to topple the governments.

The advent and advances in information technology have added another dimension to how politicians manipulate elections. Dictators always control all the media, elections or no elections. In semi-democratic governments like our country, social media has taken a greater role over and above the traditional media. The politicians and governments, now have to dominate the social media space with trolls, fake news, bots, and even technological innovations. These have made the Filipino voters the target of massive disinformation that numbs and dumbs them, turning them into uncritical voters.

There are groups of Filipino voters who are more vulnerable to misinformation/disinformation, and it cuts across economic classes. Excluding the partisan extremists who economically benefit from their political patrons, there are 35% of voters who are considered uncritical Filipino voters. With our literacy rate of 91%, these are elementary, high school, and college graduates who are earning a living, and rely mainly on social media for information and news. Most are engrossed in day-to-day living and do not have the time to evaluate information outside of their work. They are the most vulnerable targets of social media disinformation and political manipulation.

A recent scholarly study showed that 34% of the social media news, especially in X, of the ICC arrest of former president Duterte were fakes, generated by bots/organized trolls and were not true or factual. Also, 50% of the social media posts about the coming Philippine elections were/are fake news driven by inauthentic accounts including sock puppets, avatars, and bots. Given that 34% of Filipino voters are unable to validate, analyze, and criticize social media posts/news, it looks like Philippine democracy has a problem. This could get worse or better depending on the initiatives/actions of the other 34% who are aware of these manipulations, and cares for the country. The other 32% are the extremists on both sides of the ideology.

There are ongoing campaigns to counter these political disinformation offensives and some are making headway. It is however undetermined or unsure if it is limiting/ stopping the well-financed disinformation/misinformation army of some political groups, and if it is substantially influencing the vulnerable targeted uncritical voters group, or if it is still “preaching to the choir”. More effort should be done to access the social media networks of these uncritical voters, and these have to be done now up to the 2028 presidential elections. So help us, God.