SEN. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada has filed a proposed measure seeking to include the dissemination of fake news online as a crime under Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
In filing Senate Bill No. 1296, Estrada said it is high time that those deliberately spreading fake news online be jailed or fined.
Estrada proposed an amendment to Section 3 of RA 10175 to include “fake news” in the definition of terms and its inclusion in Section 4 on the list of cybercrime offenses.
Estrada said “fake news refers to misinformation and disinformation of stories, facts, and news which is presented as a fact, the veracity of which cannot be confirmed, with the purpose of distorting the truth and misleading its audience.
“Click baits, propaganda, and manipulation of legitimate news segments to deliberately spread falsehoods, false news or disinformation are so common nowadays, making it difficult to distinguish which is actual news to fake ones,” Estrada said.
Estrada’s bill said the “creation and dissemination of fake news committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future” will constitute an offense.
A Social Weather Stations survey conducted in December 2021 and released last February showed that majority of Filipinos are finding it difficult to spot fake news on television, radio, and social media, Estrada said.
The same survey showed that 70 percent or seven out of 10 adult Filipinos said the problem of fake news and its spread on the internet “is serious.”
Meanwhile, the PNP is moving to take down “fake news” posted on Facebook about the discovery of a dismembered body in Quezon City.
In a statement, PNP public information office chief Brig. Gen. Roderick Alba said the PNP, through the Anti-Cybercrime Group, has started an investigation on the matter.
Alba said the investigation is meant to “gather more inputs to support its request for Facebook to permanently take down the newsfeed that has been fact-checked as fake news.”
Alba said the post about the discovery of the dismembered body was first made on Facebook in 2017. He said the ‘discovery’ had been proven by the Quezon City Police District as a “hoax.”
