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May polls

Comelec, Tiktok vow to bolster campaign to end disinformation

By: Dianne Sampang - Inquirer.net | January 28,2025 - 02:55 PM

Comelec, Tiktok vow to bolster campaign to end disinformation in May polls

The Commission on Elections, led by Chairman George Erwin Garcia, and social media platform Tiktok, with its Public Policy Manager Peachy Paderna, sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday, January 28, for the 2025 elections. | Photo from the office of the Comelec chair

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and social media platform Tiktok on Tuesday vowed to bolster campaign to end disinformation for the upcoming May polls.

During the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Comelec and Tiktok, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said that the poll body asked the social media platform if they could avail its services to immediately verify the authenticity of information posted in the application.

“So that we can protect not only our candidates, not only our political parties, but most particularly the electorate in general considering that the 2025 elections definitely an offshoot of what will happen in the future, most especially the presidential and vice presidential elections,” Garcia said in a press briefing.

READ: Comelec resumes printing of ballots for May polls

Further, in partnership with the Comelec and election watchdogs National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), Tiktok has launched “Philippine Elections Center” in a bid to foster election awareness for the May polls.

Reliable information

Peachy Paderna, Tiktok Philippine Public Policy Manager, said that the initiative was launched last week.

READ: TikTok US ban: Court denies TikTok’s request to halt enforcement

“That is one thing that we are firm on. We want to make sure that our users have access to reliable information about civic processes as important as the elections,” Paderna said in a press briefing.

The Tiktok’s in-app new election measure can be found by searching “Elections” or “Halalan” (elections) which will show the “Election Awareness” tab.

READ: Comelec-Mandaue sets guidelines for campaign poster placement

From there, Tiktok users can navigate through different election contents from Comelec, Namfrel, and Lente.

The tab, which can also be accessed in English or Filipino language, also contains step-by-step “Learn How to Spot False Information” in which Tiktok said is “committed to removing misleading and potentially harmful content” from its platform.

READ: SC grants TRO vs cancellation of Jonas Cortes’ COC

MOU with Comelec

Further, Paderna said that the MOU signed with Comelec is an initiative to “protect the integrity of elections.”

She added that the platform enforces measures such as “removing harmful misinformation about civic and electoral processes” and “partnering with fact-checkers to assess the accuracy of the contents and labeling claims that can’t be verified.”

Paderna shared that Tiktok currently has 21 fact-checkers globally, and moderators with localized approaches that go hand in hand with machine systems and human reviewers to assess if an information is reliable.

She also said that the platform bans political advertisements and monetizes content from politicians, government, and political parties.

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TAGS: Comelec, disinformation, TikTok
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