MANILA, (PIA) — Presidential Communications Secretary Jaybee “Jay” Ruiz called for stricter regulation of social media platforms during Tuesday’s launch of the Philippine National Police Media Security Vanguards, a new unit aimed at protecting journalists.
“The position of the Presidential Communications Office is that there should be self-regulation among vloggers and the platforms hosting them,” Ruiz said at the event held at the Philippine Information Agency in Quezon City. “These platforms are foreign-owned with no headquarters here, they don’t pay business taxes, and employ few Filipinos. Yet they profit from Filipinos and siphon revenues from legitimate Filipino networks.”
Ruiz argued that government intervention may be necessary when platforms fail to regulate misinformation.
“If they are purveyors of fake news and cannot regulate their platforms, we should intervene with regulations, because they’re publishing fake news without any responsibility or consequences,” he said.
The communications secretary advocated for stronger content moderation systems, citing Meta, the Facebook company, as an example of where improvements are needed.
“Platforms themselves should implement self-regulation. For instance, when false news appears on Meta, they should immediately take action and tag it as fake news, but that’s not happening,” Ruiz said.
He also called for vloggers and social media influencers to adopt a professional code of conduct, noting they shouldn’t have unlimited freedom to insult individuals or spread falsehoods about people or the administration without consequences.
Ruiz pointed to a specific example of misinformation on TikTok claiming Chinese ownership of not just the West Philippine Sea but the entire Palawan province.
“They don’t take down such content even when you write complaints,” he said. “Meanwhile, in traditional media, one mistake and you’re removed — that’s how strict it is.”
The official expressed concern about national division resulting from unchecked misinformation.
“Because of fake news, Filipinos have become divided. Instead of living together harmoniously, our country has become extremely polarized through fake news,” he said.
Ruiz concluded by framing the issue as a collective responsibility: “Information is power. In fact, information is the new warfare. The fight against fake news is not only the government’s fight — it’s all of us.”
“We now live in two worlds — the cyber world and the real world,” he added. “We need to protect our youth against fake news.”
The newly created media security unit in partnership with the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, aims to address growing concerns about journalist safety and media integrity in the Philippines. (JCO/PIA-NCR)
(Photo by: John Lester Naguna/PIA-NCR)
