Meta, Comelec Join Hands For Digital Literacy Campaign

Technology company Meta, formerly the Facebook company, launched on Thursday, Nov. 25, a new digital literacy campaign in the Philippines ahead of the 2022 elections.

Meta partnered with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and civil society group Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) for the “Be WAIS and Teka Moment” campaign, which aims to remind people to pause and think critically before sharing information online.

The campaign also includes tips on how to spot fake news and engage in respectful political discourse on social media.

“Social media platforms like Facebook play an important role in providing Filipinos with timely information about when and where to vote. We launched a voter registration campaign on Facebook, and around the same period received over 1.9 million registration applications, more than double the daily average of registrations we received before the campaign,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.

“Together with Meta and all our partners, we are committed to promoting digital literacy especially among new registered voters for the upcoming presidential election,” he added.

The campaign is part of a series of initiatives by Meta and the Comelec, including the voter registration campaign last month and the ongoing training for Comelec officials on digital security and online safety.

“We look forward to working with Comelec to support well-informed voter engagement and digital literacy. We aim to empower Filipinos with the skills and tools to be more critical around information they find online, and to be able to hold respectful digital discourse,” Clare Amador, head of public policy for Facebook Philippines, said.

“We’re working closely with Comelec and our partners from civil society, and we will make further announcements on our election efforts in the lead up to next year’s vote,” she added.

Facebook earlier launched a digital literacy program in the Philippines called Digital Tayo to provide Filipinos with interactive content and resources on digital engagement and empowerment.

It also worked with various agencies and organization including the Comelec to ensure the integrity of the 2019 midterm elections.

Probe on ‘smishing’ sought

A ranking congressman has called for immediate investigation and government action to stop the alleged misuse of contact information amid the spike in spam mobile phone text messages, a scheme authorities branded as “smishing.”

House social services committee chairperson Alfred Vargas has specifically sought actions from Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) against the rise in spam, scam and phishing attempts through text messages.

“This spate of unwanted text messages in forms of spams, scams and phishing attempts is not only an inconvenience to Filipino consumers but also indicate a clear breach of data privacy and a possible illegal sale of private data, violating Republic Act No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012,” Vargas stressed in Resolution No. 2378.

The Quezon City congressman cited the duty of government agencies “to protect consumers and the fundamental human right to privacy.”

“Government should stop those who take advantage of the grim situation of the pandemic for their own interests by breaching the data privacy of individuals and proliferating spam and scam text messages,” he pointed out.

Vargas further warned that the spam text messages could be used as tools to spread disinformation and fake news especially during the coming elections.

“As we enter the campaign period, urgent steps should be taken to ensure that these schemes are not weaponized into tools to spread fake news and disinformation. Our right to suffrage and the integrity of our elections may become casualties if the concerned agencies fail to act,” he said.

Vargas has expressed alarm over the matter and called for thorough investigation by the regulatory agencies after telecommunication provider Globe Telecom had reportedly deactivated 5,670 confirmed spam numbers and blocked 71 million spam messages this year.

The company had also said unsolicited marketing campaigns from digital marketers or spammers use “existing databases culled from public information or online data.”

He said there has also been an increase in reports of dubious financial transactions, with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) recording a 57% increase in reports of suspicious transactions, indicating a surge in financial scams.

“Speculations from consumers that their phone numbers might have been sourced from contact-tracing forms, indicating a breach of privacy, have surfaced and must be addressed diligently and immediately,” the lawmaker added.

But earlier this week, the NPC ruled out contact tracing forms used by establishments as the cause of the smishing activities and pointed a global syndicate as behind the scheme. – With Edu Punay