once
thought that tyrants like Ferdinand Marcos would never make it in
today’s wired and networked world. When he declared martial law in the
1972, he shuttered radio and TV stations, padlocked the printing presses
of newspapers, and made sure Filipinos heard, read, and saw only what he
wanted them to.
I
told myself it would be impossible to do that today. We now live in a
highly interconnected world. Social media apps, email, text messaging,
computers and mobile phones link everyone to everyone else. Marcos and
his henchmen would not succeed today the way they did 45-years ago.
But
now, I’m not so sure anymore. Dictators, autocrats, and authoritarian
regimes have discovered how manipulate public opinion using social
media. They employ armies of well-trained hackers who spread “fake news”
while their legions of supporters troll the internet and gang-up on
anyone with a differing viewpoint. Instead of cutting-off access to news
and information the way Marcos did, today’s tyrants drown out the truth
with lies and fake news.
Russia is accused of doing just that during the 2016 U.S. election.
Kremlin hackers flooded Facebook and Twitter with paid advertisements
and fake news on Hillary Clinton to help bring about a Donald Trump
victory. If true, Trump who constantly accuses the press of “fake news”
would ironically owe his election victory to it—courtesy of Russian
hackers.
Facebook just recently acknowledged that it might have been an unwitting
accomplice to Russia’s interference and set new rules in place. The
internet after all, should be a force for good. Unfortunately, it is
also easily subverted by those who use it for nefarious ends.
What
happened in the U.S. should give Filipinos pause. If an election in the
world’s richest and most powerful country can be easily “commandeered”
by an adversary halfway across the globe, might an adversary just across
the South China Sea have also manipulated the Philippine presidential
elections of 2015? One wonders.
There appear to be very persuasive arguments for China to do so. The
Philippines owns highly strategic waters in the South China Sea. To make
matters worse, a UN arbitral tribunal upheld Philippine claims to those
waters—via unanimous vote no less. From China’s strategic perspective,
the former colony and close ally of the United States had to be
neutralized. And the quickest, most cost-effective way to accomplish
that goal was to put a Chinese stooge in Malacańang.
The
takeaway from all this for Filipinos is the importance of becoming more
discerning about news and information. Fake news is now everywhere. Our
LCD screens are now flooded with an audiovisual cacophony of
information. If Pinoys are to move forward and prosper as the free and
just people they truly are, they must continually strive to determine
what is true and what is false. American Wendell Phillips put it
succinctly back in 1852: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Published 2/2/2018 |