Senate probers are poised to mount an inquiry into alleged misuse of public funds bankrolling so-called troll farms “to sow misinformation” in time for the upcoming 2022 elections.
Joining calls for a Senate inquiry, Senator Joel Villanueva acknowledged the need to verify “allegations of public funds financing troll farms purportedly established to sow misinformation in time for the coming elections in 2022.”
Villanueva, labor committee chairman, noted that “organized trolls are weapons of mass distraction,” warning that “the seeds of falsehood they plant ripen into hate ready to be harvested by those who are harmed by the truth.”
Joining 11 other senators led by Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto in filing Senate Resolution 768, Villanueva confirmed the Senate probers are all set to “investigate reports that public funds were used to finance troll farms propagating fake news.”
In a news statement, Villanueva reminded that “misinformation could lead to serious consequences, sometimes even fatal,” warning that “when trolls peddle anti-vaccine information, the repercussions are literally deadly.”
Calling on political groups to publicly denounce these troll farms and abandon plans, if there are any, to utilize them in the 2022 elections, the senator suggested that “all political groups should commit to a troll disarmament.”
Villanueva added: “Democracy can only flourish under the free and frank exchange of ideas, that may clash as they often should, but always must be anchored on facts.”
The Villanueva Resolution defined a social-media troll as “someone who creates conflict on sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit by posting messages that are particularly controversial or inflammatory with the sole intent of provoking an emotional response from other users.”
It noted that “these messages from trolls distract and take focus away from the subject at hand, sending a rational discussion down a rabbit hole of obscenities, personal attacks, and jokes.”
Moreover, the resolution warned that “most trolls also post misleading statements or outright lies [on] the Internet to manipulate public perception of issues or persons. Usually, trolls would set up fake social-media accounts in order to retain their anonymity and escape prosecution.”