DICT deploys teams to combat election-related misinformation
Photo from the Philippine News Agency.
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has deployed teams to monitor and report disinformation, misinformation, and deepfakes ahead of the 2025 midterm elections, Secretary Ivan Uy said on Wednesday.
The DICT chief said the agency would work with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to either take down misleading content or inform the public about deceptive information.
“We’ve deployed people who will be scouring all the different social media sites and all the internet on possible misinformation, disinformation, deepfake, or AI-generated content and report them to us so that we can properly take action together with the Comelec,” he said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday.
Uy also encouraged the public to be vigilant and verify information before sharing it online to curb election-related misinformation.
“Don’t believe everything you see. Because today, it’s very difficult to discern technology, fiction from reality,” he said.
“Sometimes, they say our image is indisputable proof of an event. Now it’s not anymore,” he added.
Uy cautioned against the rapid spread of false information through messaging apps like Viber.
“When an article comes out, it is immediately shared in Viber groups, and people assume it’s true, especially when it pretends to be from a legitimate news organization, but in reality, it’s a fake news or misinformation source,” he said in Filipino.
The DICT chief also urged legitimate news organizations to uphold journalistic integrity and call out misinformation.
“Legitimate news organizations … must police their own ranks and call out those who are misbehaving or not adhering to the ethical and professional standards of journalism,” he said in Filipino.
As the election period nears, Uy reassured the public that the DICT would follow Comelec’s directives to ensure a secure and truthful information landscape.
“The Comelec has full jurisdiction during the election period. We are deputized and act in accordance with their directives,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
READ: Comelec, Tiktok vow to bolster campaign, end poll disinformation
On Tuesday, the Comelec and social media platform Tiktok signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen efforts against election-related disinformation ahead of the May 2025 polls.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the poll body sought TikTok’s assistance in verifying the authenticity of election-related content on the platform.
“So that we can protect not only our candidates, not only our political parties, but most particularly the electorate in general, considering that the 2025 elections are definitely an offshoot of what will happen in the future, most especially the presidential and vice presidential elections,” Garcia said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
