Thread by @rapplerdotcom

Rappler continues its special coverage of the 2022 Philippine elections, along with updated partial, unofficial results. #PHVote #WeDecide

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Is it too early to say that disinformation won?

Nobel laureate and Rappler CEO @mariaressa: We've been saying this for years, and data backs that. What we've seen is death by a thousand cuts of history.

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@mariaressa Rappler digital forensics and research specialist @paulinemacaraeg underscores findings on disinformation networks on social media: The Marcos network has existed as early as 2014. They've been pushing narratives about the supposed legacy of Marcos admin.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg LOOK: Online share of voice of presidential candidates. Leni Robredo leads by only a small margin.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg LOOK: Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s Facebook network. @paulinemacaraeg says the network has gone huge and has become difficult to penetrate.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg .@paulinemacaraeg: The Marcos network really benefitted from Facebook the most.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg .@paulinemacaraeg: The network exists in a vacuum.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg .@jnery_newsstand: That's the reason why Marcos Jr. invited people to find out the truth themselves because he already has this infrastructure of disinformation that's ready to trap people inside this "Fortress Marcos."

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand TikTok Philippines public policy head Kristoff Rada: We make sure that all the major news organizations are on TikTok, that's our way to help balance out the conversation. What we want to see is really authentic expressions, and that includes political expressions.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand .@paulinemacaraeg refers to the exclusive Rappler+ and Nerve study entitled "On social media, it's a two-way presidential race."

READ: rappler.com/plus-membershi…

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand ICFJ global director of research @julieposetti: The past 24 hours has indicated the platforms as vectors, enablers, facilitatators of dinsinformation really are culpable to an extent of this systemic problem.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti .Rappler technology editor @gelogonzales86: We're seeing disinformation at a historic scale.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@mariaressa: These algorithms that actually feed us the content are where we need to begin. Opinion in code is the way we can define algorithm.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@mariaressa: If you post on Facebook, it's picked up by machine learning and it builds a model of each of us. Artificial intelligence comes in, wraps it up, and based on that, they will take your most vulnerable moment to a message, and sell it.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@mariaressa: It plays with you psychologically. It's not as if it's just one person saying "you're a bad journalist." On social media it's repeated a million times, you're pounded, it has a different psychological effect.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 Rada says TikTok has a policy against political ads.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 Rada explains the TikTok algorithm: It predicts what you might like. It also relies on your input. That's why we're saying if you feel like there's sort of a campaign, please let us know. Because from where we sit, we can't see that.
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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@julieposetti: Algorithms are not innocent. Suggesting that the point of correction should be at the level of community and news orgs alerting a platform to a crisis of disinformation, it's important to understand that there is a responsibility on the part of the platform.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@julieposetti: These algorithms shift realities and direct people into these walled communities where you can be trapped within.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 Rada: On the point of algorithms, there is a lot of risk that can be caused, but I also look at the other side of the coin. There's also much potential for you to spread good messages. We've actively encouraged credible orgs, academics, who can share these pieces of info.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 Rada: It's an equal-space platform.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@julieposetti: But how is it a counter-balance when you have weaponized hate and troll factories, and you have viral disinfo being distributed with false intent, on the other hand you have credible, reliable info, which is not necessarily being spread to the same extent.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@julieposetti: It's not a level playing field. And it's not curated in such a way that has human rights and democratic values at the core.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 Rada: As a platform we're very conscious that the platform itself is kept free from misinformation. I disagree with the characterization that TikTok has weaponized our platform to spread misinformation.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@julieposetti: It's not that you're trying to weaponize, but platforms are weaponized by bad actors. And there's a lack of proactive responses at platform level.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@mariaressa: It's not that platforms did it, but the attention economy allows itself to be weaponized by power actors that can then exploit the attention-getting process, the algorithms, against journalists, against activists, against women.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 Rada: That's why we encourage people who have that repository of correct information...why don't you say it on the platforms. Again it is an equal-space platform.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 Rada mentions TikTok has taken down videos spreading the myth of the Tallano gold.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 .@fatimagaw, UP professor who studies tech platforms and audience behavior: The efforts of the Marcoses to invest in this ecosystem to substantiate their claims, all of those have now materialized into a win for Marcos.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw: As a disinformation researcher, I know somehow that this would happen, but I know it's still painful to see him actually win.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw: Because they were able to formalize their operations, they now have the capability to innovate whatever disinformation and propaganda tactics they've been using. We'll see this industry being institutionalized in the next few years.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw: Marcos Jr. knows it's an effective tool to sustain his popularity and gain political favor. Definitely we will see this as a staple of his administration.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: We hear this a lot from platforms that we have to change society in order to change what's happening in the toxic spaces online. Trying to reform communities of misogynists offline in order to tackle a problem online will only go so far.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: You have to address the problems with the algorithms.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: It doesn't stay online of course. Attacks against women journalists physically are offline.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: Kudos to Tiktok for working proactively in the context of PH elections. But we have to get to an understanding that algorithms need renovation, fundamental recalibration to proactively and preemptively address the problems.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw: We have to acknowledge that institutions are really declining in their authority. As journalists, we look up to the values and standards of journalism, but perhaps it's not anymore working in this kind of network environment.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw: I think there needs to be a rehaul of how we do journalism. One of the things I've been mentioning from before is building communities of news-reading audiences.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw says the reason these alternative media sources thrive is because people distrust the mainstream sources of information.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@mariaressa: Once a metanarrative is seeded and is not debunked, and continues to stay, it will continue to grow.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@mariaressa: It is dangerous. This is existential. Marcos Jr. is going to become president by ignoring the checks and balances of traditional media, of journalists driven by standards and ethics.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@mariaressa: He builds his own, and the platforms allow that. That's not a freedom of speech issue. Is the ability to make money to engage, to spread toxic hate, more important than the reality we live in?

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@paulinemacaraeg: This kind of network that they've built online, it also translated into something that undermines the credibility of independent journalists.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@paulinemacaraeg: As much as we appreciate what the platforms are doing, we should also continue to push back with them. If there can be something we can do, that would be better not only for journalists but also for users as well.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw Rada: It's wrong to assume that we're all cut from the same cloth. What's effective on TikTok may not necessarily be effective on other platforms.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw Rada: We really have to invest some time and effort to take a look at how we can properly communicate [credible] messages in these platforms.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw Rada: I think what platforms have done also is democratize. The opportunity now for people to broadcast their opinions to a wider audience is there.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw Rada: I think it's incumbent upon the institutions to understand how these people communicate and what resonates with them, instead of imposing our view of communication.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: I think that Rappler, more than most other news orgs internationally, understood the original potential for the democratizing power of the platforms in terms of revolutionizing citizen-based communication.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: But we are well past the narrative that social media platforms are understood as democratizing powers.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: Of course they provided opportunities for broadcast, unedited, unmediated. But now we have to acknowledge the very significant ramifications of that system and the profit-oriented disinformation and hate-enabling world that platforms have played.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: Info and users of platforms are not all equal. Some are more powerful than others.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: It's disingenuous to suggest that by treating all info and all players as equal, we're going to be able to successfully combat the toxicity, the viral disinformation, and the enabling of offline catastrophe.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw: Platforms are complicit to the election of Marcos Jr. I would say that confidently. These kinds of lies have perpetuated because they stayed on the platforms.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@fatimagaw: We are not in the best position to negotiate with these platforms because we don't have the bargaining chip. The Philippines is a very big social media country and yet our issues, concerns, problems here are periphery with their concern.
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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti on what Marcos Jr. might do next in terms of disinformation: Philippines' political actors have perfected the art of network and viral disinformation. The stage has been set essentially to cut out the critical independent voices.

@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: I don't know if there's anything the community can do beyond continuing to push the platforms to take active responsibility for the crises that they have enabled.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: I am impressed by efforts to target algorithms rather than content for regulation. Laws targeting "fake news" can be weaponized against credible independent journalism and reliable factual information.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@julieposetti: We have to be careful about an approach that involves the regulation of content.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw Rada: Let's work together. I think, ultimately the solution has to be a shared solution. TikTok can't do it alone. We will do our share, but to come up with a real holistic solution, we have to work with partners.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@mariaressa: The power dynamics have already shifted, I think it's time to wake up and see it. What we're going to do next, that's exactly what we're going to figure out.

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@mariaressa @paulinemacaraeg @jnery_newsstand @julieposetti @gelogonzales86 @fatimagaw .@mariaressa: What are we going to do? Are we just going to give up? We can't.

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