By Billy Begas
The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms has approved in principle the proposal regulating the use of the internet and social media during elections and combat online trolls from spreading fake news.
During the hearing, committee chairperson and Mt. Province Rep. Maximo Dalog Jr. said that the input and recommendations provided by the stakeholder would be taken into account in the substitute bill.
Quezon City Rep. Keith Tan, author of the bill, said the proposal “seeks to regulate the use of the internet and the social media as a lawful election propaganda.”
“It aims to empower the Comelec in the monitoring of partisan political activities, help the authorities prove, prosecute and enforce Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, enable the public to fight the proliferation of online trolls during the election season, and properly compute campaign expenses,” Tan said.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Director Efraim Bag-id said the agency supports the proposal that will address the gap in the policy for a fair election.
“If we have the law, then we can have an effective monitoring real time,” Bag-id said.
Under Tan’s proposal only verified accounts, websites, blogs, and/or social media pages may run electoral ads, and boost or promote electoral posts. All electoral posts must show a disclosure that identifies it as a paid electoral ad, and discloses who paid for it.
Each registered political party/coalition and candidate shall register with the Education and Information Department of the Comelec, the website name and web address of all platform-verified official accounts within 30 days from the last day of filing of the certificates of candidacy, the bill said.
Any other website, blog, or social media page not registered but which, when taken as a whole, has for its primary purpose the endorsement of a candidate, whether or not directly maintained or administered by the candidate or their official campaign representatives, shall be considered additional official websites, blogs, or social media pages of the said candidate for all regulatory purposes.
