Pera ng bayan pambayad? Makabayan bloc wants to know how troll farms thrive

By Billy Begas

The Makabayan bloc has filed House Resolution 1900 seeking congressional investigation on trolls farms established to defend the Duterte government against critics and influence the outcome of the 2022 national elections.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said there is a need to determine if public funds are being used to finance the operation of the troll farms.

Zarate also wanted to know if the troll farms are also the ones spearheading the massive red tagging campaign against progressives, media, church people, lawyers, critics and the opposition.

The resolution was filed after Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed that an undersecretary of the Duterte administration is building at least two troll farms per province.

“If public time and resources are involved, these are not just wasting taxpayers money but even criminal acts just to malign and harass anyone who criticizes the Duterte administration,” said Zarate. “To launch this kind of troll operation on a nationwide scale and for at least a year it would take millions and even billions of pesos.”

He said that this is very similar to what Facebook detected of FB accounts linked to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other based in China that engage in coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB).

“Also, these troll farms are very dangerous to our democracy especially the coming elections as they can create a false clamor for a fake presidential candidate. Kapag ganyan ang mangyari baka magkaroon ng presidente na iniluklok ng mga trolls. We would have a troll president and we definitely do not want that,” he added.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)