An election watchdog on Sunday, 13 September, warned that the spread of false information on social media could discourage voters from participating in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections on Monday.

National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections Secretary General Eric Alvia said Namfrel’s assessment paper released on 7 September flagged the prevalence of disinformation, misinformation and malinformation online ahead of the polls.

“Ito ‘yung panganib dito. Baka maapektuhan ‘yung turnout,” Alvia said.

(This is the danger. It might affect the voter turnout.)

BARMM has around 2.393 million registered voters.

Alvia said Namfrel has been closely monitoring social media because of the volume of misleading or false information circulating online.

“Binabantayan din natin ‘yan dahil maraming mga kwento at mga balita na kung minsan walang katotohanan,” he said.

(We are closely monitoring social media because there are some stories and news that are not true.)

He said the false information includes reports of violence, black propaganda against candidates and supposed problems in election preparations.

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia also acknowledged the spread of fake news in BARMM.

“Talaga pong sobra ang fake news dito ngayon sa Bangsamoro,” Garcia said in a separate radio interview Sunday.

Garcia urged voters to be cautious about information they see online.

“Huwag kayo kaagad maniniwala,” he said.

(Don’t believe immediately.)

“Baka po ang purpose niyan ay para hindi kayo bumoto at hindi kayo hikayatin bumoto,” Garcia added.

(The purpose might be to prevent voters from voting.)

Garcia said Comelec is working with civil society groups and mainstream media to counter false information.

The poll body also operates a threat monitoring center that tracks social media activity with support from the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Garcia added that Comelec is coordinating with social media platforms to seek the removal of false election-related content.