dwgu

[dwgu]

How Marcos Jr weaponised social media to rewrite history and win power

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s landslide presidential election win was secured with a social media disinformation campaign that whitewashed his father’s brutally corrupt dictatorship, falsifying not only Philippine history but also his own education credentials.

Marcos Jr has waited 36 years to restore his family to the Malacañang Palace, and now returns as the 17th president of the Southeast Asian nation of 112.5 million people.

However, not everybody is happy to see the return of the Marcoses. Those who lived between 1965 and 1986 remember the 21 years under Ferdinand Marcos Sr and the brutal martial law he declared from 1972 to 1981 to eliminate his political enemies.

Dark history

Human rights abuses were rampant during his tenure, which was marked by arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, torture and killings. Amnesty International reported that 70,000 people – including priests, human rights defenders, labour leaders and journalists – were flung behind bars, more than 34,000 tortured and over 3,000 killed.

The Marcoses were also known for corruption that fuelled an extravagant lifestyle of jet-setting and luxury spending sprees, including on Imelda Marcos’s infamous shoe collection.

Efforts are still being made to recoup some of the US$10 billion that the Marcoses are thought to have plundered from the Philippines. However, those efforts are likely to be curtailed following Monday’s election victory.

In February 1986, Marcos Sr was ousted in what came to be known as the “People Power Revolution”. The disgraced family fled to Hawaii, where Marcos Sr died three years later.

The Philippines Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) is still working on getting the stolen funds back. It is also handling more than 100 cases of embezzlement and human rights violation from victims of Marcos Sr’s oppressive rule.

Brushing clean

However, it appears as if the pain and anguish suffered by the previous generation was largely ignored by the new generation of Filipinos, who spend a big chunk of their time on social media.

This helps explains why Marcos Jr won over 24.7 million votes from the younger generation, aged 18-41. According to data, these people spend an average of four hours per day on social media – the tool weaponised by Marcos Jr to whitewash his family’s past.

Instead of distancing himself from his father’s legacy, Marcos Jr used the online platforms to turn him into a national hero, claiming that he brought a “golden age” to the Philippines.

On Tuesday, he visited his father’s tomb at the national Heroes’ Cemetery in Metro Manila. For decades, the Marcoses and their supporters campaigned to have his remains transferred there, before President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to do so in 2016.

Marcos Jr also claimed on social media that he has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. However, the university said he failed to complete his degree and was awarded a special diploma in Social Studies in 1978.

Marcos Jr became vice governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte at age 23, running unopposed with his father’s party. He was governor when, six years later, his family was chased into exile.

The family returned in 1991 and Marcos Jr was once again elected governor in Ilocos Norte. In 2010 he became a senator, before running for vice president in 2016. He lost narrowly to former human-rights lawyer Leni Robredo – also his key rival in the 2022 presidential race.

The power of propaganda

To say that Marcos Jr won the presidential election by using social media as a propaganda tool is no exaggeration.

Bongbong masterminded a years-long strategic campaign on social media that has helped rebuild and polish his family’s image. Pro-Marcos propaganda has proliferated on social media – from glossy TikTok clips showing “fun times” during the Marcos era to YouTube videos declaring there was no martial law.

An official from political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica reportedly said it was approached by Marcos Jr to delete unfavourable records of the Marcos regime on social media platforms so he could gain momentum in the election.

Observers say however that Marcos Jr’s landslide win cannot just be put down to social media whitewashing. Many also point to people’s disappointment in the political establishment and democratic rule over the past three decades, which have seen presidential impeachment trials, political protests, corruption and more.

One sociologist put it succinctly: “The faith people had in liberal democracy has dried up.”

[dwgu]

Misinformed electorate contributed to Marcos Jr. win, say Filipino fact-checkers There were stark differences in how disinformation portrayed the two rival candidates to online voters.

Son of disgraced Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and heir to the family dynasty, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. won the Philippine general election in a landslide victory on Tuesday. Based on polling and prevailing sentiment in the Philippines, the results didn’t surprise many, including the nation’s journalists. However, as Philippine fact-checkers noted, the victory relied on a misinformed electorate and a potent propaganda campaign.

“Even in the months before the filing of candidacies had taken place, we were already flagging bits of election-related misinformation and disinformation,” said Meeko Angela Camba, head of a fact-checking initiative focused on public figures at VERA Files, a Philippine journalism and fact-checking outlet. “Among the patterns that we’ve spotted, particularly for online disinformation, was that disinformation and misinformation tends to favor one particular candidate and targets others.”

The candidate that benefited most, Camba explained, was Marcos.

“We have seen disinformation falsely claiming that the Philippine economy during the Marcos Senior regime was the golden age,” Camba said.

Smaller claims have also popped up around that narrative — that the exchange rate of the Philippine peso to the dollar was very low or that the Philippines was the richest country in Asia, or second after Japan, during that period.

Other false posts protected the reputation of the Marcos dynasty, deflecting or denying that the family’s wealth was “ill-gotten,” or claiming that Bongbong Marcos holds a bachelor’s degree from Oxford when in fact he only has a “special diploma.” (There is an entire topic section devoted to the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth on the Rappler website, which details some of the ways the family took billions during the Marcos Senior dictatorship and its current legal battles with government agencies in the Philippines.)

In addition to there being beneficiaries of the election-related mis- and disinformation, there have also been targets. According to Cambda, there have been stark differences in how the disinformation portrays the characters of the two rival candidates – Vice President Leni Robredo and Marcos – to online voters.

“Robredo has been a favorite target of misinformation,” Camba said. “These claims tend to question her capability as a public official, portraying her as someone who is kind of intellectually inferior against the other candidates.”

“I’m not questioning the credibility of the election itself. I think we can say that the election was conducted properly,” said Ellen Tordesillas, a veteran Filipino journalist and a co-founder of VERA Files. “Really what the problem was when the people went to the polls yesterday was that that they were not making informed decisions; they were making ‘disinformed’ decisions.”

Fact-checkers noted the younger Marcos’ presidency will likely represent a continuation of Duterte’s when it comes to press freedoms and access.

“Under the Duterte administration, it’s been quite challenging already,” Cambda said. “With indications of how Bongbong Marcos has acted toward the media, throughout the campaign, you know, avoiding interviews or not holding many press briefings or conversations with journalists on the campaign trail, access to information is something we should watch out for.”

[dwgu]

Misinformed electorate contributed to Marcos Jr. win, say Filipino fact-checkers

There were stark differences in how disinformation portrayed the two rival candidates to online voters.

Son of disgraced Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and heir to the family dynasty, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. won the Philippine general election in a landslide victory on Tuesday. Based on polling and prevailing sentiment in the Philippines, the results didn’t surprise many, including the nation’s journalists. However, as Philippine fact-checkers noted, the victory relied on a misinformed electorate and a potent propaganda campaign.

“Even in the months before the filing of candidacies had taken place, we were already flagging bits of election-related misinformation and disinformation,” said Meeko Angela Camba, head of a fact-checking initiative focused on public figures at VERA Files, a Philippine journalism and fact-checking outlet. “Among the patterns that we’ve spotted, particularly for online disinformation, was that disinformation and misinformation tends to favor one particular candidate and targets others.”

The candidate that benefited most, Camba explained, was Marcos.

“We have seen disinformation falsely claiming that the Philippine economy during the Marcos Senior regime was the golden age,” Camba said.

Smaller claims have also popped up around that narrative — that the exchange rate of the Philippine peso to the dollar was very low or that the Philippines was the richest country in Asia, or second after Japan, during that period.

Other false posts protected the reputation of the Marcos dynasty, deflecting or denying that the family’s wealth was “ill-gotten,” or claiming that Bongbong Marcos holds a bachelor’s degree from Oxford when in fact he only has a “special diploma.” (There is an entire topic section devoted to the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth on the Rappler website, which details some of the ways the family took billions during the Marcos Senior dictatorship and its current legal battles with government agencies in the Philippines.)

In addition to there being beneficiaries of the election-related mis- and disinformation, there have also been targets. According to Cambda, there have been stark differences in how the disinformation portrays the characters of the two rival candidates – Vice President Leni Robredo and Marcos – to online voters.

“Robredo has been a favorite target of misinformation,” Camba said. “These claims tend to question her capability as a public official, portraying her as someone who is kind of intellectually inferior against the other candidates.”

“I’m not questioning the credibility of the election itself. I think we can say that the election was conducted properly,” said Ellen Tordesillas, a veteran Filipino journalist and a co-founder of VERA Files. “Really what the problem was when the people went to the polls yesterday was that that they were not making informed decisions; they were making ‘disinformed’ decisions.”

Fact-checkers noted the younger Marcos’ presidency will likely represent a continuation of Duterte’s when it comes to press freedoms and access.

“Under the Duterte administration, it’s been quite challenging already,” Cambda said. “With indications of how Bongbong Marcos has acted toward the media, throughout the campaign, you know, avoiding interviews or not holding many press briefings or conversations with journalists on the campaign trail, access to information is something we should watch out for.”

[dwgu]

How Marcos Jr weaponised social media to rewrite history and win power

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s landslide presidential election win was secured with a social media disinformation campaign that whitewashed his father’s brutally corrupt dictatorship, falsifying not only Philippine history but also his own education credentials.

Marcos Jr has waited 36 years to restore his family to the Malacañang Palace, and now returns as the 17th president of the Southeast Asian nation of 112.5 million people.

However, not everybody is happy to see the return of the Marcoses. Those who lived between 1965 and 1986 remember the 21 years under Ferdinand Marcos Sr and the brutal martial law he declared from 1972 to 1981 to eliminate his political enemies.

Dark history

Human rights abuses were rampant during his tenure, which was marked by arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, torture and killings. Amnesty International reported that 70,000 people – including priests, human rights defenders, labour leaders and journalists – were flung behind bars, more than 34,000 tortured and over 3,000 killed.

The Marcoses were also known for corruption that fuelled an extravagant lifestyle of jet-setting and luxury spending sprees, including on Imelda Marcos’s infamous shoe collection.

Efforts are still being made to recoup some of the US$10 billion that the Marcoses are thought to have plundered from the Philippines. However, those efforts are likely to be curtailed following Monday’s election victory.

In February 1986, Marcos Sr was ousted in what came to be known as the “People Power Revolution”. The disgraced family fled to Hawaii, where Marcos Sr died three years later.

The Philippines Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) is still working on getting the stolen funds back. It is also handling more than 100 cases of embezzlement and human rights violation from victims of Marcos Sr’s oppressive rule.

Brushing clean

However, it appears as if the pain and anguish suffered by the previous generation was largely ignored by the new generation of Filipinos, who spend a big chunk of their time on social media.

This helps explains why Marcos Jr won over 24.7 million votes from the younger generation, aged 18-41. According to data, these people spend an average of four hours per day on social media – the tool weaponised by Marcos Jr to whitewash his family’s past.

Instead of distancing himself from his father’s legacy, Marcos Jr used the online platforms to turn him into a national hero, claiming that he brought a “golden age” to the Philippines.

On Tuesday, he visited his father’s tomb at the national Heroes’ Cemetery in Metro Manila. For decades, the Marcoses and their supporters campaigned to have his remains transferred there, before President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to do so in 2016.

Marcos Jr also claimed on social media that he has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. However, the university said he failed to complete his degree and was awarded a special diploma in Social Studies in 1978.

Marcos Jr became vice governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte at age 23, running unopposed with his father’s party. He was governor when, six years later, his family was chased into exile.

The family returned in 1991 and Marcos Jr was once again elected governor in Ilocos Norte. In 2010 he became a senator, before running for vice president in 2016. He lost narrowly to former human-rights lawyer Leni Robredo – also his key rival in the 2022 presidential race.

The power of propaganda

To say that Marcos Jr won the presidential election by using social media as a propaganda tool is no exaggeration.

Bongbong masterminded a years-long strategic campaign on social media that has helped rebuild and polish his family’s image. Pro-Marcos propaganda has proliferated on social media – from glossy TikTok clips showing “fun times” during the Marcos era to YouTube videos declaring there was no martial law.

An official from political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica reportedly said it was approached by Marcos Jr to delete unfavourable records of the Marcos regime on social media platforms so he could gain momentum in the election.

Observers say however that Marcos Jr’s landslide win cannot just be put down to social media whitewashing. Many also point to people’s disappointment in the political establishment and democratic rule over the past three decades, which have seen presidential impeachment trials, political protests, corruption and more.

One sociologist put it succinctly: “The faith people had in liberal democracy has dried up.”

[dwgu]

Misinformed electorate contributed to Marcos Jr. win, say Filipino fact-checkers

There were stark differences in how disinformation portrayed the two rival candidates to online voters.

Son of disgraced Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and heir to the family dynasty, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. won the Philippine general election in a landslide victory on Tuesday. Based on polling and prevailing sentiment in the Philippines, the results didn’t surprise many, including the nation’s journalists. However, as Philippine fact-checkers noted, the victory relied on a misinformed electorate and a potent propaganda campaign.

“Even in the months before the filing of candidacies had taken place, we were already flagging bits of election-related misinformation and disinformation,” said Meeko Angela Camba, head of a fact-checking initiative focused on public figures at VERA Files, a Philippine journalism and fact-checking outlet. “Among the patterns that we’ve spotted, particularly for online disinformation, was that disinformation and misinformation tends to favor one particular candidate and targets others.”

The candidate that benefited most, Camba explained, was Marcos.

“We have seen disinformation falsely claiming that the Philippine economy during the Marcos Senior regime was the golden age,” Camba said.

Smaller claims have also popped up around that narrative — that the exchange rate of the Philippine peso to the dollar was very low or that the Philippines was the richest country in Asia, or second after Japan, during that period.

Other false posts protected the reputation of the Marcos dynasty, deflecting or denying that the family’s wealth was “ill-gotten,” or claiming that Bongbong Marcos holds a bachelor’s degree from Oxford when in fact he only has a “special diploma.” (There is an entire topic section devoted to the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth on the Rappler website, which details some of the ways the family took billions during the Marcos Senior dictatorship and its current legal battles with government agencies in the Philippines.)

In addition to there being beneficiaries of the election-related mis- and disinformation, there have also been targets. According to Cambda, there have been stark differences in how the disinformation portrays the characters of the two rival candidates – Vice President Leni Robredo and Marcos – to online voters.

“Robredo has been a favorite target of misinformation,” Camba said. “These claims tend to question her capability as a public official, portraying her as someone who is kind of intellectually inferior against the other candidates.”

“I’m not questioning the credibility of the election itself. I think we can say that the election was conducted properly,” said Ellen Tordesillas, a veteran Filipino journalist and a co-founder of VERA Files. “Really what the problem was when the people went to the polls yesterday was that that they were not making informed decisions; they were making ‘disinformed’ decisions.”

Fact-checkers noted the younger Marcos’ presidency will likely represent a continuation of Duterte’s when it comes to press freedoms and access.

“Under the Duterte administration, it’s been quite challenging already,” Cambda said. “With indications of how Bongbong Marcos has acted toward the media, throughout the campaign, you know, avoiding interviews or not holding many press briefings or conversations with journalists on the campaign trail, access to information is something we should watch out for.”

[dwgu]

How Marcos Jr weaponised social media to rewrite history and win power

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s landslide presidential election win was secured with a social media disinformation campaign that whitewashed his father’s brutally corrupt dictatorship, falsifying not only Philippine history but also his own education credentials.

Marcos Jr has waited 36 years to restore his family to the Malacañang Palace, and now returns as the 17th president of the Southeast Asian nation of 112.5 million people.

However, not everybody is happy to see the return of the Marcoses. Those who lived between 1965 and 1986 remember the 21 years under Ferdinand Marcos Sr and the brutal martial law he declared from 1972 to 1981 to eliminate his political enemies.

Dark history

Human rights abuses were rampant during his tenure, which was marked by arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, torture and killings. Amnesty International reported that 70,000 people – including priests, human rights defenders, labour leaders and journalists – were flung behind bars, more than 34,000 tortured and over 3,000 killed.

The Marcoses were also known for corruption that fuelled an extravagant lifestyle of jet-setting and luxury spending sprees, including on Imelda Marcos’s infamous shoe collection.

Efforts are still being made to recoup some of the US$10 billion that the Marcoses are thought to have plundered from the Philippines. However, those efforts are likely to be curtailed following Monday’s election victory.

In February 1986, Marcos Sr was ousted in what came to be known as the “People Power Revolution”. The disgraced family fled to Hawaii, where Marcos Sr died three years later.

The Philippines Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) is still working on getting the stolen funds back. It is also handling more than 100 cases of embezzlement and human rights violation from victims of Marcos Sr’s oppressive rule.

Brushing clean

However, it appears as if the pain and anguish suffered by the previous generation was largely ignored by the new generation of Filipinos, who spend a big chunk of their time on social media.

This helps explains why Marcos Jr won over 24.7 million votes from the younger generation, aged 18-41. According to data, these people spend an average of four hours per day on social media – the tool weaponised by Marcos Jr to whitewash his family’s past.

Instead of distancing himself from his father’s legacy, Marcos Jr used the online platforms to turn him into a national hero, claiming that he brought a “golden age” to the Philippines.

On Tuesday, he visited his father’s tomb at the national Heroes’ Cemetery in Metro Manila. For decades, the Marcoses and their supporters campaigned to have his remains transferred there, before President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to do so in 2016.

Marcos Jr also claimed on social media that he has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. However, the university said he failed to complete his degree and was awarded a special diploma in Social Studies in 1978.

Marcos Jr became vice governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte at age 23, running unopposed with his father’s party. He was governor when, six years later, his family was chased into exile.

The family returned in 1991 and Marcos Jr was once again elected governor in Ilocos Norte. In 2010 he became a senator, before running for vice president in 2016. He lost narrowly to former human-rights lawyer Leni Robredo – also his key rival in the 2022 presidential race.

The power of propaganda

To say that Marcos Jr won the presidential election by using social media as a propaganda tool is no exaggeration.

Bongbong masterminded a years-long strategic campaign on social media that has helped rebuild and polish his family’s image. Pro-Marcos propaganda has proliferated on social media – from glossy TikTok clips showing “fun times” during the Marcos era to YouTube videos declaring there was no martial law.

An official from political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica reportedly said it was approached by Marcos Jr to delete unfavourable records of the Marcos regime on social media platforms so he could gain momentum in the election.

Observers say however that Marcos Jr’s landslide win cannot just be put down to social media whitewashing. Many also point to people’s disappointment in the political establishment and democratic rule over the past three decades, which have seen presidential impeachment trials, political protests, corruption and more.

One sociologist put it succinctly: “The faith people had in liberal democracy has dried up.”

[dwgu]

How Marcos Jr weaponised social media to rewrite history and win power

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s landslide presidential election win was secured with a social media disinformation campaign that whitewashed his father’s brutally corrupt dictatorship, falsifying not only Philippine history but also his own education credentials.

Marcos Jr has waited 36 years to restore his family to the Malacañang Palace, and now returns as the 17th president of the Southeast Asian nation of 112.5 million people.

However, not everybody is happy to see the return of the Marcoses. Those who lived between 1965 and 1986 remember the 21 years under Ferdinand Marcos Sr and the brutal martial law he declared from 1972 to 1981 to eliminate his political enemies.

Dark history

Human rights abuses were rampant during his tenure, which was marked by arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, torture and killings. Amnesty International reported that 70,000 people – including priests, human rights defenders, labour leaders and journalists – were flung behind bars, more than 34,000 tortured and over 3,000 killed.

The Marcoses were also known for corruption that fuelled an extravagant lifestyle of jet-setting and luxury spending sprees, including on Imelda Marcos’s infamous shoe collection.

Efforts are still being made to recoup some of the US$10 billion that the Marcoses are thought to have plundered from the Philippines. However, those efforts are likely to be curtailed following Monday’s election victory.

In February 1986, Marcos Sr was ousted in what came to be known as the “People Power Revolution”. The disgraced family fled to Hawaii, where Marcos Sr died three years later.

The Philippines Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) is still working on getting the stolen funds back. It is also handling more than 100 cases of embezzlement and human rights violation from victims of Marcos Sr’s oppressive rule.

Brushing clean

However, it appears as if the pain and anguish suffered by the previous generation was largely ignored by the new generation of Filipinos, who spend a big chunk of their time on social media.

This helps explains why Marcos Jr won over 24.7 million votes from the younger generation, aged 18-41. According to data, these people spend an average of four hours per day on social media – the tool weaponised by Marcos Jr to whitewash his family’s past.

Instead of distancing himself from his father’s legacy, Marcos Jr used the online platforms to turn him into a national hero, claiming that he brought a “golden age” to the Philippines.

On Tuesday, he visited his father’s tomb at the national Heroes’ Cemetery in Metro Manila. For decades, the Marcoses and their supporters campaigned to have his remains transferred there, before President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to do so in 2016.

Marcos Jr also claimed on social media that he has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. However, the university said he failed to complete his degree and was awarded a special diploma in Social Studies in 1978.

Marcos Jr became vice governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte at age 23, running unopposed with his father’s party. He was governor when, six years later, his family was chased into exile.

The family returned in 1991 and Marcos Jr was once again elected governor in Ilocos Norte. In 2010 he became a senator, before running for vice president in 2016. He lost narrowly to former human-rights lawyer Leni Robredo – also his key rival in the 2022 presidential race.

The power of propaganda

To say that Marcos Jr won the presidential election by using social media as a propaganda tool is no exaggeration.

Bongbong masterminded a years-long strategic campaign on social media that has helped rebuild and polish his family’s image. Pro-Marcos propaganda has proliferated on social media – from glossy TikTok clips showing “fun times” during the Marcos era to YouTube videos declaring there was no martial law.

An official from political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica reportedly said it was approached by Marcos Jr to delete unfavourable records of the Marcos regime on social media platforms so he could gain momentum in the election.

Observers say however that Marcos Jr’s landslide win cannot just be put down to social media whitewashing. Many also point to people’s disappointment in the political establishment and democratic rule over the past three decades, which have seen presidential impeachment trials, political protests, corruption and more.

One sociologist put it succinctly: “The faith people had in liberal democracy has dried up.”