Disinformation and Social Media

In the Philippines and around the world, social media is spreading disinformation that is feeding into the angriest and most extreme voices. This deluge of angry voices and disinformation undermines democracy by hindering the ability of responsible journalism to convey accurate facts so that citizens can have a reasonable debate on important political issues facing their nation.

Instead, social media has tended to siphon people into ideological bubbles where their views are not challenged and they are inundated with conspiracy theories and the demonizing of those whom they disagree with. People become more vulnerable to groupthink.

Democracies are based on the idea that people of differing views can vigorously debate an issue and be willing to compromise and find common ground when the debate reaches an impasse. The disinformation campaigns demonize any who disagrees with them and eliminates any areas of possible common ground. This makes it impossible for any sort of reasonable democratic debate where common ground can be found and a consensus can be reached.