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Social Media’s Presence in The 2022 Philippine Election

Mikaela Alexandra T. Mijaro

AMA University Online Education

ICT 112 - Empowerment Technologies (E-Tech): ICT for Professional Tracks

Sir Jerico H. Obbus

September 26, 2022

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Social Media’s Presence in The 2022 Philippine Election

Social media’s significance in the 2022 Philippine election held on May 9th

has never been seen nor experienced before. Considering the current social media

landscape in the Philippines, there are 73.91 million internet users and 89 million

social media users in the country, as of 2021 according to We are Social. Those

numbers are equivalent to about 80.7% of the total population. The only difference

between social media and internet users implies that many users in the country

have multiple accounts, which can mean that some of these accounts are trolls,

fake accounts, or non-humans/bots. Admittedly from the same survey and article, it

says that 51.7% of the respondents said that they rely on “social media influencers”

as a major source of information, even on political matters and the recent election.

These “influencers” have more than enough access to be able to spread false

information, biased opinions, and noncredible statistics.

Voters, minors, candidates, and even Filipinos worldwide, all depended on

social media for updates and news regarding who was leading on the charts. Due to

COVID, there were limited times when candidates could hold in-person gatherings

and campaign. Instead, they relied on Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, and even other

platforms, to seize the recognition and ballots of the people— especially back in

2021 up to the first quarter of the year, leading up to the election.

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Advantages of Social Media’s Presence

The power and influence of social media were crucial in playing a role in

society, especially in those times. It is undeniable that the results were shaped by

social media itself— making it a part of history, as the Philippines’ second “social

media election” but bigger, following the 2016 presidential contest in which

previous president, Rodrigo Duterte, won. It is more than likely that the next

presidential election will be similar to what happened in the recent ones; Filipinos

nationwide and across the globe will continue to voice out their support for the

next candidates, although hopefully, it will be a lot more cordial.

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Several surveys online were done, even before the election itself. They were

usually conducted by universities, schools, sites, or even just pages or groups

through Facebook.

Candidates and their parties could easily spread their platform with the use

of social media; it was also easier for them to recognize if they needed to improve

on anything they were lacking, and it was more efficient to communicate with the

voters and citizens of the Philippines.

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Due to the willingness and support of voters online, it was also easier for the

media and news to take surveys on which platforms most of the candidates are

getting support from. For example, Atty. Robredo was getting much more support

on Twitter while current President Marcos was on Tiktok. On Facebook, however,

both leading parties had a different strategy from each other: Atty. Robredo relied

on mainstream news and updates for her content, while current President Marcos

relied on the large cluster of support.

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Disadvantages and Disinformation Through Social Media

Along with the benefits of social media during the election, disadvantages

cannot be avoided. An online survey conducted in December 2021, showed that

69% of Filipinos believe that fake news is a serious problem, and 51% of Filipinos

find it difficult to spot the disinformation.

Conspiracies, fake news, and illusions were made in favor of other parties,

this likely led to the victory of this regime. With no proper assurance that the

current running president gives the Filipinos, he still won over 31.6 million, or

58.77% of the people.

Disinformation even came from the current president himself; he

exaggerated having “medals” and a degree from Oxford University, which was

proven to be false. He gives empty promises of “unifying” our nation with no

proper plan or platform and yet, he still receives support because of the lack of

information his advocates and apologists accept. He was rarely present in any

important events during the election, such as debates and presidential interviews

that were live-streamed on Facebook and other platforms, yet he claims to be a

unifying leader— his excuse for not being present was because “debates are

problematic” and it was his “strategy.”

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Marcos Jr.’s father and “legacy” was the only thing that fueled the people for

him to win the election; the people’s disregard and negligence of the past made

history repeat itself with another Marcos sitting in a high government position.
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References

Arugay, A. A. (2022). 2022/33 “Stronger Social Media Influence in the 2022

Philippine Elections” by Aries A. Arugay. Www.iseas.edu.sg, 2022(33).

https://www.iseas.edu.sg/articles-commentaries/iseas-perspective/2022-33-st

ronger-social-media-influence-in-the-2022-philippine-elections-by-aries-a-ar

ugay/

‌How candidates utilized social media for the 2022 elections. (2022, May 7).

RAPPLER.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/study-how-candidates-utilized-soci

al-m2022-philippine-elections/