STATEMENT OF SUPPORT TO THE“10-POINT PLAN TO ADDRESS THE INFORMATION CRISIS”

The Movement Against Disinformation (MAD) strongly supports and endorses the “10-Point Plan to Address the Information Crisis” of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, launched at the Freedom of Expression Conference in Oslo, Norway on September 2, 2022.

“Information is the currency of democracy,” according to Thomas K. Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America. This has never been truer than it is today in the Philippines, when the current deficit of truthful information manifests itself in the state of our democratic institutions and checks and balances. The systematic and unregulated spread of disinformation in social media has enabled the weaponization of the law against independent media and truth-tellers, the normalization of historical distortion through mainstream art forms, the vilification of activists and their advocacies in the minds of the public, and the perpetuation of political dynasties in the highest echelons of power.

In this age of connectivity where the free flow of information should strengthen democracies, the opposite is happening. Technology under the control of the Big Tech platforms is rolling back democracies, undermining our fundamental right to information and manipulating our faculty to make well founded decisions. The business model of the supposed to be gatekeepers of the modern world prioritizes engagement over truth, profit over public good, and ultimately, power over a just and humane society.

We must not allow this to continue for our sake and the generations to come.

The blueprint to systematically push back against disinformation has been laid out by Ressa and Muratov in their “10-Point Plan to Address the Information Crisis.” MAD commits to contribute to carrying out the herculean task of localizing and implementing this plan in the Philippines.

This is a very important work and an urgent call to action not only to bureaucratic institutions and established organizations but to each one who believes in democracy and resists against fascism.