Facts vs Fakes: UP fact-checking initiatives against disinformation

KIM G Quilinguing

April 2

*UP College of Mass Communication Professor and investigative journalist Yvonne Chua talks about how 'fake news' can erode the public's trust in the media. Photo by KIM Quilinguing, UP MPRO.*

Just four days after the May 9, 2022 National and Local Elections, Tesk.ph released its report on how bogus vote tallies and supposed disqualification of some candidates proliferated online during election day.

The Tsek.ph report said fake news proliferated "overwhelmingly on Facebook, and occasionally on Twitter and YouTube, mostly by Marcos supporters, including Showbiz Fanaticz channel, whose election-related claims have been previously fact-checked."

In an earlier report, Tsek.ph said disinformation flooded in "multiple formats and platforms that is unprecedented in the country's history." Foremost in the targeted candidates they said, were then presidential candidates Leni Robredo and Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. The disinformation efforts on the two competing candidates, they added, is indicative of the "high political polarization" of the politically conscious demographic in the country.

Spearheaded by the Department of Journalism in the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, Tesk.ph is a multisectoral fact-checking initiative involving 34 institutions in the academe, news industry, and civil society. The project is supported by UP, Google News Initiative, Rakuten Media, Meta, Meedan, and the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines.

Initially launched in 2019, Tsek.ph was conceptualized due to the "growing threats of disinformation and misinformation in traditional and online media that affect the health of democratic countries and the power of citizens to make informed choices during elections."

In 2019, the Tsek.ph team fact-checked 131 materials on disinformation and misinformation "targeting candidates and political groups vying for positions in the May elections". Out of those gathered, 84 were found to be false, 21 needed context, 19 were misleading, and 2 had no basis. Most the materials were disseminated via social media, while others were included in the speeches of candidates, stated during their appearance on television programs, and even included in their own curriculum vitae.

Also active in the fight against disinformation for the empowerment of voters is the UP sa Halalan project, headed by the Department of Political Science in UP Diliman. Banking on the expertise of their faculty members and their partners, the initiative provides analysis, think pieces, and insights on the elections, as well as on social issues which confront the Filipino voter.

In 2022, UP sa Halalan joined hands with Tsek.ph for the May 2023 elections. Constituent universities of the UP System also signed up with the network, such as UP Baguio, UP Cebu, UP Visayas and UP Open University. They joined a consortium of universities, news media, and civil society organizations in efforts to combat disinformation.

In 2023, UP sa Halalan was active during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, providing voter education and information, as well as analysis and insights on the electoral process, as well as its impact in the communities. Aside from publishing their analyses on their website and disseminating these via social media, their experts also appeared on national news programs, providing perspectives on the elections.

October 2012: (left) Comission on Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento exchanges a copy of the signed Memorandum of Agreement with President Alfredo Pascual (right) at the signing ceremony at the Board of Regents Room, Quezon Hall, UP Diliman. The agreement provided for the collaboration of UP and COMELEC in a voter education campaign for the 2013 elections. Photo by Arlyn Romualdo, UPSIO/UP MPRO.

December 2012: Officials from ABS-CBN and UP conclude the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. From left: ABS-CBN News Senior Vice President Ging Reyes, ABS-CBN President and Chief Operating Officer Charo Santos-Concio, ABS-CBN Chair and Chief Executive Officer Gabby Lopez, UP President Alfredo Pascual and UP Vice President for Public Affairs Prospero De Vera III. The MOU provided the basis for a voter education campaign for the 2013 elections. Photo by Bong Arboleda, UPSIO/UP MPRO.

UP sa Halalan began as an election initiative of the UP Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs (OVPPA) in 2012, for the May 2013 elections. The result of a collaboration between UP, the Commissions on Elections (COMELEC), and ABS-CBN Corporation, the project launched a website which provided voter information and education materials, a precinct finder, interactive election map, think pieces, analysis, infographics, and, of course, fact checks.

Collaboration with the COMELEC also allowed the project access to much needed data on the voting population, as well as on candidates running in the regions. Partnering with ABS-CBN also allowed for the creation of multimedia materials which best put the data in a good and creative use.

Notably, the fact checks of the time focused more on verifying the claims of candidates for the senatorial positions, and not on claims from dubious individuals disseminated on social media platforms. A series of the fact checks were produced and disseminated on the University's social media platforms.

In 2015, the UP sa Halalan was revived in anticipation of the May 2016 National and Local Elections. Capitalizing on its efforts three years earlier, the project expanded its engagement with the news media by engaging not only ABS-CBN, but also GMA. With this approach, the University's experts sought to provide analysis and information to more members of the public through their appearance on television programs, radio programs, think pieces, as well as fact checks of claims made by candidates.

In 2019, UP sa Halalan officially passed from the OVPPA to the UP Diliman Department of Political Science, in recognition of the contributions by many of its faculty to the previous two iterations of the project. With assistance from the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA), the Office of Extension Coordination, and the UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development (OVCRD), the project continues its aim to provide perspectives on political issues confronting Philippine society, particularly during the elections, as well as to provide the public with correct information on the country's institutions, the electoral process, as well as the candidates during elections.

With the country's midterm elections just around the corner, organizations like Tsek.ph and UP sa Halalan will continue to provide perspectives, analyses, information, and, most of all, fact checks for both the online and offline world now saddled with misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. And these initiatives are manifestations of not only the honor and excellence of the national university's experts, but more importantly, its commitment to inform, educate, and empower the Filipino nation.