In this OpenTalk episode, Carlos Conde and journalist Regine Cabato delve deep into the world of what Regine calls the Duterte “disinformation cyborgs,” who runs them, why they keep churning disinformation, and who benefits from all that. A former Washington Post reporter who is now on a Chevening scholarship in the UK where she studies politics and the disinformation ecosystem, Regine provides valuable insights and startling revelations about how the “disinformation industry” in the Philippines works.
Watch the full episode here:
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
* The disinformation machine never stops churning
* Who are doing this? Nobody has a normal life and fulltime job can do this
* A lot of what you see online is manufactured, paid for
* The Duterte disinformation machine is a cyborg – half human half machine
* The disinformation industry is not even just a cottage industry. Billions are spent.
* Public relations political strategists at the top
* Organic influencers are targeted; they are the target market; they preach to the choir
* They exaggerate real pro-Duterte sentiments
* They pit Cebuanos against Tagalogs to create the anti-Bisaya Duterte construct
* The goal is to keep the people divided; to keep Filipinos polarized
* Regional language barrier is real; this fills an information gap
* There needs to be content creators on the democraty side, on the journalism side
* Important to train regional journalists vs information manipulation
* People want not just facts but framing; they want to be told what's important
* Journalists have to compete in the chaos
* We have to explain to people that journalists are the go-to source for credible information
* People have lost their capacity for longform comprehension
* We have not fully recovered from the Duterte years of undermining the media
* We have to explain to people how platforms work, the dynamics of how media works
* Influence the influencers
* Journalists should do PR for their own stories and investigations, to measure impact
