Science Technology And Society

Activity number: 9
Midterms Requirement:
Science and Technology issue that affects the Philippine Society

Digital
Disinformation

Submitted by:
Joedel H. Alfonso

Submitted to:
Ma’am Roselle A. Laureano

Date Submitted:
August 31, 2019
 Digital Disinformation

Digital disinformation is one of the greatest threats in the society. Disinformation is false
information deliberately and often covertly spread in order to influence public opinion or obscure
the truth (New Knowledge, 2019). Digital disinformation or fake news, as society calls it, threatens
the truth and integrity of knowledge and information circulating around the internet. Moreover,
this information can include different aspects of the society, political, health care, science and even
personal information of different people. Disinformation is not new (UNESCO,2018), as even the
older traditional news media are used to spread disinformation and malicious information around
the population. However, digital media have a wider range and coverage than traditional media,
which means the fake news can reach more audience. Digital media can spread faster than
traditional media, once the news is uploaded to the internet it instantly reaches everyone who can
access the internet and almost everyone have access to the internet nowadays. Also, digital media
audiences are more vulnerable as it can reach anyone and not all the people it reaches are literate
or have the capacity to analyze the information present to them.

Digital disinformation can be used as a weapon by people with malicious intent as

disinformation creates further misinformation. Misinformation is the spread of misleading or
incorrect information without knowing if it is true (New Knowledge, 2019). One application that
can be seen are the political campaigns both positive and negative information. A candidate can
make advertisement of for himself making his self look good although the information of his
accomplishments is not real. This can also be used to damage someone’s image, spreading negative
news which can be true and exaggerated or false news that can make people hate them. Another
example, which is evident to social media platforms, are the spread of hateful, malicious or
scandalous news about a person without a proof of the allegation. False stories can also be spread
to the social media to advertise goods that are not legally authorized by the government. which
means the goods are not certified to be sold because of lack in analyzation of the product’s safety
and effectiveness. After the release of disinformation or fake news, people start to share it and
talk about it spreading misinformation.
Disinformation is a threat to the Philippines. Politically speaking, it can be used to spread and rise
the fame of a candidate by deceiving people with fake news and damage the image of other
candidates. This political disinformation makes people vote for the wrong candidate because they
are deceived that the candidate is the best. Logically, these candidates who use such things like
digital media manipulation are up to no good and are corrupt. Disinformation can also be used by
people with malicious intent to damage a personality’s reputation and image, spreading scandalous
news, image or footage which can be deceiving, unclear or made up. The goods and products
which are not certified by the government can also be advertised in the internet and use
disinformation to make the product look good and persuade audiences to buy the product, this can
be a problem as such product can have ingredients and processes that are not approved by the
authority as they may affect a person, usually these are beauty and health care products. Such
product may have a bad side effect when used or can even be a bogus or fake product.

The spread of disinformation and further misinformation of people can be reduced or stopped by
making people aware of it. Educating people about the idea of disinformation and how not
everything they read, especially in the internet can be true. These can be achieved by making
seminars and public spread of the idea of disinformation and how it may affect the society and
each individual person. Teaching people how to properly assess news and spot which is fake news
and how to fight or stop their spread can make a powerful society in which disinformation is
filtered out. Equipping the people with the knowledge is a great start in stopping the spread of such
news. Making the social media platform’s owner or companies somehow liable to any
disinformation through their platforms will force them to make their security and filtering effort
in filtering their contents better. The news site’s content should also be checked by the authority
and make laws punishing the creation and spread of harmful disinformation. Cutting off the source
can stop the spark of wrong information from further spreading into burning the minds of the
society.