Many Filipinos See Politicians as Top Source of Disinformation Online

Study Underlines Rise in Citizens' Distrust of Leaders as Marcos-Duterte Rivalry Intensifies

- Mara Cepeda

MANILA - A study that found that Filipinos see politicians as the top source of disinformation online has underlined the rise in distrust towards the country's leaders, amid intensifying rivalry between the Marcos and Duterte camps.

The 2025 Reuters Institute Digital News Report released on June 17 found that Filipinos are more likely than people in other countries to blame politicians for the spread of false information online.

According to the survey, 55 per cent of Filipino respondents identified politicians as major sources of disinformation, ahead of online influencers (48 per cent), activists (38 per cent), journalists (37 per cent), foreign governments (34 per cent), and others.

This is higher than the global average, where respondents generally identified both politicians and influencers as the biggest culprits in spreading disinformation, at 47 per cent each. The Reuters report polled 97,055 people in 48 territories in total, including 2,014 Filipinos.

The report noted that disinformation "surged in the Philippines over the past year — fuelled by the widening political rift between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Vice-President Sara Duterte".

"The fallout peaked with Duterte's impeachment in February, followed a month later by the arrest of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who faces charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his bloody war on drugs," it said.

Associate Professor Danilo Arao, who teaches journalism at the University of the Philippines, told The Straits Times that Filipinos may have grown weary of what he described as a "sustained, organised" operation of disinformation networks, which often parrot statements made by Filipino politicians.