‘Separate regulatory body’ eyed to monitor online posts to combat fake news

The Philippine STAR reported that presidential press officer Claire Castro brought up the idea at the tri-committee hearing on fake news, saying that forming another regulatory body for such could help fight the proliferation of fake news on the Internet.

“For me, I think it would be best if we can create a separate regulatory body to monitor all these,” she said, noting that certain scenes that deal with sex, violence, and other sensitive topics should not be easily accessible online.

The officials at the hearing became open to Castro’s idea. According to the STAR, administration lawmakers are looking into “either amending the Public Service Act and compelling social media platforms to secure a ‘legislative franchise’ from Congress for purposes of regulating the proliferation of fake news.”

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This comes almost three months after lawmakers Rep. Margarita “Migs” Nograles and Rep. Cheeno Almario filed a House Bill aiming to criminalize troll farms for disinformation campaigns ahead of the May 2025 elections. 

House Bill 11178, or the Anti-Troll Farm and Election Disinformation Act, aims to legally penalize individuals who are “producing, publishing, or amplifying false or misleading information” against a political candidate with the intent to damage their reputation or candidacy.

Related:

Philippine troll takedowns? Facebook pages of 4 pro-Duterte influencers go dark

All four influencers are vociferous Duterte supporters who had shared anti-Marcos content with their hundreds of thousands of followers. Last Friday, the influencers’ Facebook pages went dark, each bearing the same message: “The content isn’t available.”

Asked if he saw an effort to take down pro-Duterte influencers, lawyer and Senate candidate Vic Rodriguez told This Week in Asia: “Yes, there is an emerging pattern where the government is perceived to be deliberately curtailing our right to free speech, expression and of the press.”

Rodriguez, who was Marcos Jnr’s general campaign manager in the 2022 presidential polls and served as his executive secretary for three months before turning against his boss, is now running for the Senate under Duterte’s Tunay na Maisug na Opposition (Truly Strong Opposition). He said the Facebook takedown of the accounts was “all characteristic of an authoritarian rule”.

The disabling of the influencers’ sites happened against the backdrop of three events in the Philippines: the impeachment of Duterte’s daughter, Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio; the start of the campaign period for the midterm elections in May; and congressional actions on fake news and disinformation.

No more paid lies! Palace exec wants troll ‘syndicates’ penalized

“Maybe our problem now is that many people are making money, okay, by spreading fake news to bring down someone. This can no longer be called freedom of expression because they are trolls.”

“So, when we say there is a troll army, they are not fighting for freedom of expression because they are just making money and are dictated to by the person who pays them.”

“That’s not for freedom of expression. Because that’s what they’re saying, ‘what about our freedom of expression?’ Well, wait a minute, if you’re a troll army, you’re not exercising that because you’re being paid to say something dictated by the person paying you,”

“You know they are like puppets of someone who pays to say this, that’s a different kind. So, it’s really necessary to have a law regarding troll armies, there should be a penalty for this. This should be considered a criminal act because, as I said, it’s like a syndicate, there should be a penalty,”

“At the same time, I hope our country also has a law that regulates it so we can really see the true identities of these social media influencers or content creators.”

PH Stratbase document – contains notes on who was behind the impeachment of Sara Duterte.