The government’s chief communicator on Friday lamented that the nation is being divided by online disinformation, misinformation and fake news.

“What is happening to us right now is we are being polarized, being divided online. Filipinos are being pitted against Filipinos,” Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Jay Ruiz told the House Tri-Committtee’s (Tri-Comm) hearing on malicious and fake online content.

Ruiz said the division that is happening in the country is similar to the discord the world is seeing in the United States(US).

He welcomed the Tri-Comm inquiry into fake news and proposed that the PCO, Department of Justice (DoJ), and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) collaborate closely in combatting the spread of fake news.

He said neutralizing malicious online content “is the big fight” the nation should be waging.

“Lies, repeated a thousand times, becomes the truth. We have to fight lies with truth. The voice of truth should be louder than lies,” he said.

The PCO chief warned of the dangers of division among the population caused by online disinformation and misinformation.

He also called attention to the dangers of deepfakes.

He said the PCO has received complaints from some overseas Filipino workers who were victimized by deepfake-enabled scams using celebrities.

The secretary also called for online content moderation and regulation of social media platforms like Tiktok, Facebook and Youtube.

However, he said the problem is that these platforms are not based in the Philippines. | PND