Over the years, The Nerve and Rappler have conducted investigations into how China and its supporters have used social media to spread disinformation
In his 5th State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sent a reminder to “friends and detractors” that Filipinos are not “greedy,” “racists,” and “liars.” He did not name who these friends and detractors were, but he immediately followed this statement with a mention of the 2016 Arbitral Award, which marked its 10th anniversary earlier this month.
“A common threat lies before us, directed against our dignity and self-respect as a people. Of late, our very humanity has been called into question. Let me remind our friends and our detractors: Filipinos are a noble, kind, gracious, and great race,” Marcos said.
This came after China Daily, a state-controlled media outlet, posted a video on Facebook that depicted Filipinos as monkeys. Other Philippine officials, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and lawmakers, called out the AI-generated video for its offensive content and for perpetuating false claims about the Arbitral Award.
One such false claim that has been debunked over and over again was that the Philippines holds no legal basis over the West Philippine Sea. Throughout the years, The Nerve found that this claim has been seeded, regurgitated, and used to wrongly discredit anyone who upholds the 2016 ruling.
