The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) seeks to push for a law that will regulate the use of social media and to eliminate the use of trolls during campaigns.
COMELEC Commissioner George Garcia said on a Monday morning in ANC’s Rundown that in the next Congress, they will likely push for such laws as far as election expenditure and the campaign is concerned that will reprimand online trolls or people who are paid to act up as somebody else with the intention to give provocative or offensive messages on the social media platform, to get attention or trouble someone.
“We would like to readily admit that because of the absence of a law regulating social media in the Philippines that the COMELEC is really powerless, at least to monitor what you have said,” the commissioner said.
“It’s very difficult really to prove and prosecute and enforce [the Cyber Libel Prevention Act] but at the same time, we will push Congress to enact a law specifically for the campaign, specifically the use of trolls during the campaign period,” Garcia further said.
“Easily, anybody who will be victimized by these trolls can file cases in relation to cyber libel but of course, it is very difficult to prove and at the same time it’s very difficult to pin point the liability of the individuals in this case,” Garcia added.
Recalling that earlier in May, President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed a bill seeking to mandate the registration of SIM cards and social media accounts in the country, a measure that aimed to stop online crimes in the form of fraud or the influx of online trolls.
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