Marilyn Cahatol

Citizens use their phones in Quezon City amid the modified enhanced community quarantine on August 16, 2020. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Filipinos ‘not gullible, but victimized’ by disinformation — professor

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177579220006220200816-covid19-quarantine-phones-1535-MD.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Citizens use their phones in Quezon City amid the modified enhanced community quarantine on August 16, 2020. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Filipinos are not gullible but are victims of sophisticated technology that information peddlers use to spread &quot;fake news&quot;, an expert said of a recent surge of posts spreading disinformation about the health of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.</p><p>Some social media users have insisted without proof or basis that photos of Marcos Jr. at public events were edited and manipulated to hide his allegedly poor health.</p><p>“Instead of gullibility, I would rather use the term &#x27;being victimized&#x27; as well by disinformation whenever we go into such sophisticated technologies that are being used by the disinformation peddlers,” Kontra Daya convenor and UP journalism professor Danilo Arao told ANC’s Headstart.</p><p>The media professor noted that everyone, regardless of educational attainment can fall for false information.</p><p>He said information peddlers are funded well and have access to sophisticated technology to digitally manipulate the form and content of posts.</p><p>“The sophistication of disinformation would tend to affect not just those who are victims of a mal-educated system here, even those who are educated abroad, even those who are exposed to the privilege of quality education because they have the money to pay for that — they also become victims of disinformation,” Arao said. </p><p>Some fake posts, for example, include logos of credible media organizations or use AI to mimic the voices of news anchors to fool people.</p><p>The discussion comes after multiple posts alleging Marcos’ deteriorating health emerged.</p><p>The Presidential Communications Office said it is <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/9/malaca-ang-tracing-sudden-coordinated-disinformation-surge-vs-marcos-1204">tracking </a>the people behind the “sudden and coordinated surge in disinformation&quot; campaign against the president.</p><p>The disinformation wave included a post <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/9/fact-check-abs-cbn-news-ipinalalabas-na-nagmanipula-ng-lumang-larawan-sa-posts-nito-2005">manipulating </a>a screenshot of an ABS-CBN News report to claim it used an old photo for a recent event to conceal Marcos’ supposed health concerns.</p><p>While Arao classified information peddling as an “informal economy,” he noted that some PR firms also engage in the scheme legally.</p><p>He also warned against resorting to legislation to criminalize &quot;fake news&quot;.</p><p>“[W]hen you have an anti-fake news law, it can be weaponized to include critical commentary, critical journalism in general in such a way that anything that people or the powers that be would find offensive, it would be labeled as &#x27;fake news&#x27;,” he said.</p><p>Self-regulation, fact-checking, and engaging in dialogues with social media platforms to lobby for responsible gatekeeping would be abetter solution to the problem, he said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/5/palace-warns-of-charges-for-spreading-fake-news-on-energy-crisis-1336">Palace warns of charges for spreading ‘fake news’ on energy crisis</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9MfrQ-h3bqQ?si=Tte3J99F0nH0dCBd" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>

<p>Filipinos are not gullible but are victims of sophisticated technology that information peddlers use to spread "fake news", an expert said of a recent surge of posts spreading disinformation about the health of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.</p>

Filipinos are not gullible but are victims of sophisticated technology that information peddlers use to spread "fake news", an expert said of a recent surge of posts spreading disinformation about the health of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.