Deepfakes, trolls and fake news could proliferate online again as the House of Representatives moves forward with the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms chairperson Zia Alonto Adiong of Lanao del Sur said on Friday.

The Mindanao solon said he expects disinformation efforts to surface as public attention intensifies on the proceedings.

“I expect that already. In fact, my colleagues even joke about it. I just say, fine, at least we’re helping those who are unemployed, since they’re being paid to become trolls,” Adiong responded to a reporter’s question.

The impeachment complaints against Duterte have been found sufficient in form and substance by the House Committee on Justice, setting the stage for the next phase of the process.

The spread of manipulated content and narratives online, Adiong said, has become part of the current political landscape, but he stressed that the public must remain vigilant in evaluating what they see on social media.

New normal

“I expect that because that is how things operate nowadays. But for us, the public must also be discerning — more critical, more careful and more thorough in how we evaluate what we see online, because much of it is neither accurate nor true,” he said.

He said he was surprised by the level of support for the proceedings at the committee level, where the panel recorded 54 yes votes.

The impeachment process in the House requires the support of at least one-third of all members before the complaint can be transmitted to the Senate for trial.