ARTICLES

Posting for Profit: Social Media Influencers in Philippine Politics

Maria Elize H. Mendoza

Filipinos are avid users of social media, and these platforms hold the potential to help build an informed electorate, or to sow divisiveness in service of political interests. Social media influencers have capitalized on opportunities to burnish the Marcos brand, but post-election conflicts within their networks run contrary to the President’s main campaign message: his call for “unity”.

Imagining Marcos Jr. as the “Strong Leader” in an Age of Digital Disinformation

Jason Vincent A. Cabañes|Fernando A. Santiago, Jr.

Digital disinformation has been menacingly deployed to distort historical narratives about the Philippines’ Martial Law period in the 1970s and early 1980s. This tactic, bolstered by social media technologies, has masterfully resonated with the yearning for a “strong leader” who is independent of the country’s elites and able to discipline the nation’s masses.