I did not put much weight when I read about Troll Exposer in the Facebook post of Noemi Lardizabal Dado, momblogger on Twitter. But then, going over the latest in the op-ed pages of the broadsheets, Andrew Masigan has written about it. He had it down as “trollexploser” which I think was funny.
Apparently Loida Nicolas Lewis has had enough of trolls so she bankrolled this website. Dado described it as an app, which it is not. Mind you, she writes a “tech” column for the Manila Times. You would think that she would be able to differentiate between a website and an app.
Liz Derr is listed as the founder of Troll Exposer. Derr was behind the findings that Chinese ships were dumping human waste in the disputed waters off the South China Sea, in areas where the Philippines and China, have competing claims.
She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Simularity Inc. It is a company specializing in AI-driven satellite image anomaly detection, with solutions for defense, security, municipal governments, and private verticals. It closed a $1M capital seed round, signed a government customer, and delivered on a significant partnership deal with one of the largest providers of high resolution satellite imagery in 2018.
More Chinese ships may be dumping waste at sea
Disinformation is the weapon and trolls are the soldiers. The arena they operate in are social media platforms. Problem is, social media platforms have done only ceremonial acts to control the profusion of trolls and the lies they spew. Their inaction has made them the enablers of disinformation.
Worried by the negative effects of disinformation, patriot and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis spearheaded an initiative to quash disinformation and trolls. In collaboration with California-based software maverick Liz Derr, a new software program was developed to identify trolls. The program is called Trollexploser.com.
How do we define trolls? Trolls are manufactured personalities who repeatedly posts inflammatory, digressive, extraneous or off-topic messages in an online community. Their purpose is to manipulate perceptions.null
One can tell a troll by these signs: They are usually anonymous accounts with fake names. They are relatively new accounts. They have less than 10 friends and have no personal descriptions. They make hateful comments and outrageous claims. They are relentless and won’t let go of a topic. They post the same messages repetitively in various groups. They write with atrocious grammar. In its website, Facebook claims they don’t have the capacity to read every message posted on their platform, hence, have no power to control trolls. I don’t buy it. Look, if Trollexploser.com can identify troll accounts through simple algorithms, how can a giant like Facebook be unable to?
Apparently, Masigan himself has not done his due diligence as a columnist. It is not a program. It is a website. There is no algorithm. You are given detailed instructions on how to report trolls to Facebook. That is it.
This makes you wonder why the Philippine Star is paying good money to an op-ed columnist like Masigan who does not even bother to check his facts and even gets the domain name wrong?
In the run-up to the 2022 elections, candidates and politicians who have been hurt the most by public criticism on social media platforms have blamed these on trolls. They find it hard to believe that most active social media denizens are real people who air their opinions about different issues of the day.
It is not only the administration which has trolls. The opposition does as well. Just scrutinize Twitter accounts which have little following but are followed by known opposition influencers like Mr. Frank Baraan or even Masigan’s fellow Star columnist, Ding Pascual.
The opposition even came out with a “How to Mass-Report a Facebook Page or Account” last year, it its bid to cut down on the negative stream of comments against Leni Robredo. This is aside from the fact-checkers led by Rappler and Vera Files and Tsek.ph, another independent fact-checking outlet.
The low income class accounts for 54.8% of the total population of the country. If only a survey outfit would break down exactly what percentage own smartphones and have access to the internet can we truly determine the influence of trolls who spread disinformation. Unfortunately, this is an expensive proposition that no one wants to spend money on. Not even the opposition. It just goes to show that neither side can claim clean hands of the issue.
Marcos’ win puts the burden of proof squarely on the shoulders of the opposition. Truthfully, the odds are stacked in their favor given their relationships with the local executives of the social media platforms in question. Algorithms can be adjusted and aside from what was mentioned earlier, Facebook is also under the microscope in both the US and Europe. The liberals and progressives would like to control the spreading influence of rightists and other extremist groups.
But it is indeed ironic that the so-called protectors and advocates of freedom and democracy are the ones who are creating a police state on social media platforms. Troll Exposer focuses exclusively on the allegged troll army of Bongbong Marcos. This is why it does not have any credibility because it is utilized as a weapon to defend Leni Robredo from troll attacks.
Do not think that the opposition will stop with Robredo’s election loss. They will surely make more noise in the next six years with the Angat-Buhay NGO. I am quite sure that this will later evolve into a political party for the 2025 election cycle.
In the meantime, the cabal of Loida Nicolas Lewis, her sister Imelda, Albert Del Rosario and the rest of the officers of US Filipinos for Good Governance and US Pilipinos for Good Governance will continue with their efforts to discredit the incoming Marcos administration in the US and the Phillippines by making significant contributions to fund the operations of the Angat-Buhay NGO.
Comments