The Political atmosphere in the Philippines today is in a state of war; a war fought not with arms

and munitions, but with information: many times, false information.

We from the affirmative side would want to push for government regulations on social media
concerning the rise of lies and propaganda.

(Introduce your speakers)

We would like to define:

Regulation as the imposition of rules to govern a certain area.

Lies as being untruthful and is used to intentionally mislead; synonymous to false information.

And Propaganda, specifically the false kind, as False Information used to push political agendas.

My First Argument: False info will lead to bad decisions.

My Second: The regulation does not necessarily impede the right to free speech and the Press.

First Argument,

You may have heard of exotic dancer turned government undersecretary Mocha Uson (who
hasn’t.) She is hot (not in that sense) at present because of her use of false information to promote the
present administration. There is also the case of SilentNoMorePH alleging seven senators of not signing
support for Kian delos Santos, a minor killed by Police. The world of social media, is now brimming with
false information peddled by both sides to push their political agendas. This is due to the lack of
regulation.

Why Social Media? There are about 40 Million social media users in the Philippines, and, on
average, a Filipino could spend 4 hours on social media. When it comes to the internet, we’re number
one. It’s also safe to say that people are starting to get their news from social media, that is why News
sources such as ABS, Gma, and Inquirer have Social Media outlets.

False information on social media can easily skew public opinion as people tend to believe
whatever they see on their news feeds if it looks ‘legit’ on the surface. A recent study conducted by the
University of British Columbia reveals that people could not differentiate between real and fake news
even if they deemed themselves confident on the matter. Information is vital in an information-driven
society: we make all of our choices based on the information that we receive. For example: buying your
favorite snack because you made an INFORMED decision to value that snack’s taste, affordability, and
benefits; the amount of information you receive could also influence your next vote. INFORMATION is
POWERFUL, and it will retain its power when people do not know that it is false. This poses a danger to
our masses. People with all the wrong intentions could easily craft falsified information, pass it off as the
real deal, and sway the masses into any path they please. You could basically undermine democracy.

It is time for the state to intervene and pass a law that regulates the information on social
media, and perhaps other platforms as false info could easily arise from anywhere. This is to ensure us
the all information is true and credible, or at least not too far from it, to protect our people from those
who would want to exploit their naivety.

Second,
 The first question that you would probably ask is “Would this impede the right to free speech?”
No, not necessarily.

Regulating what can be read on social media would not entail that information would controlled
or stopped; we just want to identify the honest from the dishonest. You can still say what you want, but
you need to make sure that what your basing it from is credible.

We would also keep a tighter look at those who SHOULD give out proper information: the
government (I’m looking at you Mocha), and News Agencies. The people TRUST these sources, and if
they make a misstep, the general public might not be aware of that misstep and roll with it; affecting
their decisions, and therefore their lives. These groups could still express their opinions, but they still
need to be careful about the facts they use to support these opinions.

On opinions, the creation of a policy to regulate lies and propaganda on Social Media would also
draw a line between opinion, and outright disregard factual information. Reiterating it further: your
opinions are safe, it’s your facts that you need to be careful about.

Lies and Propaganda is harmful to our society and undermine our society. We need to regulate
it, but regulation would not mean death to our freedom. I am ready for the interpellation.