Filipinos' concern about fake news online has reached an all-time high of 67% this year, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report. This is up from 63% in 2024 and 57% in 2020. The report was released in the midst of hot political issues such as the impeachment of VP Sara Duterte and the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Women (70%), senior citizens (76%), and those with higher incomes and education are most concerned. The majority (55%) believe that politicians are the main source of disinformation, followed by online influencers (48%) and activists (38%). Facebook (68%) is the most common source of fake news, higher than TikTok (48%) and YouTube (39%).
Many Filipinos use various methods to verify information. They prefer to check official government websites (40%) over news outlets (37%). Fact-checking sites are also popular (34%), higher than the global average. Among those currently in use are AI chatbots like ChatGPT, especially by young people.
Filipinos prefer news that is a mix of AI and human writing over pure AI-generated news. More than 35% are comfortable with news that is human-generated but with the help of AI. However, more people are interested in AI features such as summarized news, translation, and story recommendations.
Filipinos remain strongly interested in news videos. More people watch news (51%) than read it (29%) or listen to it (13%). Facebook and YouTube remain the main sources of news. While trust in some media brands has declined, many have called for more honest, transparent, and fair reporting to regain public trust.
5jo9s2
srp5p6
xwr7uj