Soldiers waging battle against fake news in social media

June 24, 2017

Aside from the battle with the Maute group in Marawi City,  government troops are  engaging terrorists and their supporters over the internet. Brig. Gen. Rolly Bautista, commander of the Army’s  1st Infantry Division, said a military unit called Task Force Marawi’s social media monitoring team are working to counter fake or wrong information being spread by the terrorist group and their supporters in social media. “The enemy and their supporters are actively utilizing online digital media to spread false information about the situation in Marawi City. But our team is on the lookout to engage and provide counter measures and prevent the enemy of sowing fear and terror,” Bautista said. Bautista’s unit is among those battling the Maute group in Marawi. The group has been holed up in four barangays as the fighting entered its 31 st day on Saturday. Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesman of the 1 st Infantry Division, said according to a digital media facilitator “ positive sentiments on the military are overwhelming while there are negative and fake information posted on social media networks.” . Herrera did not give details about the team but he said its members were troops who have undergone a series of trainings on  digital media capability enhancement. “When the crisis in Marawi broke out on May 23, 2017, the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division was incidentally conducting a series of trainings on digital media capability enhancement,” Herrera said. “The participating personnel in the training from various units all over the division eventually became the core of Task Force Marawi’s social media monitoring team,” he added. Bautista said the training is part of their efforts to develop skills of their soldiers. “This is part of the division’s digital media initiatives to equip our personnel not only for actual combat operations but also enhance our digital capability in facing another kind of battle using Internet technologies for disseminating information online and bring the Division to the community it serves,” Bautista said. It can be recalled a lot of fake news or information have flooded social media when the attack in Marawi City started late last month. Robina Asido/DMS