Facebook Users Rewrite Marcos History in Race to Succeed Duterte
Marcos Jr. holds a big lead in the race for the Philippine presidency when online disinformation is expected to ramp up due to covid curbs.
Lops Calzado was three years old when former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos was ousted after two decades, accused of plundering government coffers and killing thousands under a dictatorship that set the country back years. Now, she’s being swamped by Facebook and YouTube posts telling her that his rule was a golden era when food was affordable, streets were safer and new highways were built.
The online experience of Calzado, now 38, is emblematic of that of many voters in the Philippines. As the nation of 110 million people gears for elections in May, it has become a textbook case for developing democracies on how social media can turn voters. Two-thirds of Filipinos have internet access and they are more active on social media than in other Southeast Asian countries, according to We Are Social and Hootsuite. And the reliance on smartphone-delivered opinion has been supercharged by the pandemic.