House leaders concerned over disinformation caused by bot-driven, pro-Duterte social media accounts

Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. (left), Quezon 2nd district Rep. David “Jay-jay” Suarez (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Two high-ranking congressmen have sounded the alarm over the sheer glut of fake, pro-Duterte social media accounts that are allegedly being used to deceive Filipinos and manipulate online discourse ahead of the May 12 mid-term elections.

According to Senior Deputy Speaker Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. and Quezon 2nd district Rep. David “Jay-Jay” Suarez, these social media accounts are being “weaponized” in the online space.

“We must defend the Filipino people not just from guns and goons, but from ghost accounts flooding their social media feeds with propaganda and deception,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales was reacting to a Reuters report that about one-third of social media accounts discussing former president Rodrigo Duterte’s recent International Criminal Court (ICC) case were fake.

The accounts were reported used to defend the ex-leader, who was charged with crimes against humanity before the United Nations (UN)-backed court.

The report cited rearch by Israeli tech firm Cyabra,, which claimed that there was a “deliberate, organized” campaign to shape public perception around the May elections.

It also warned that up to 45 percent of discussions related to the 2025 elections were being driven by inauthentic actors such as bots, sock puppets and paid influencers—potentially reaching tens of millions of users.

Gonzales warned that the growing sophistication of digital manipulation poses a serious threat to the integrity of the country’s electoral process. “When bots, trolls, and fake profiles can reach millions of Filipinos and alter the truth with just a few clicks, democracy itself is under attack.”

Suarez said: “This is digital warfare, plain and simple. And the battlefield is not just the Internet—it’s the hearts and minds of millions of Filipinos.”

“This is a wake-up call. The weaponization of disinformation to mislead, misinform and manipulate voters is one of the gravest threats to our democracy today,” added the solon from Quezon.

Suarez said that the growing scale and sophistication of such disinformation networks are drowning out legitimate voices online and eroding public trust in democratic institutions.

“Fake praise, fake news, fake accounts—this is how digital warfare is being waged today. And the most dangerous part is, ordinary people might not even know they’re being influenced,” he said.

He also urged major social media platforms like Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube to take stronger, more proactive action to detect and remove coordinated fake accounts.

Meanwhile, Gonzales urged the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to launch a joint national digital literacy program to help students and the public identify and resist coordinated disinformation campaigns.

“It’s not enough to fact-check after the damage is done. We need to inoculate our people against lies and fake news—especially the youth who are most active online and most vulnerable to digital manipulation,” said the Pampanga lawmaker. — Ellson Quismorio