Fernan Carigma

Before the 2025 national and local elections, candidates spent millions of pesos on Facebook ads that look like news articles, shaping public opinion and creating a misleading impression of popularity and public support.


An investigation by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) found that more than a hundred Facebook pages posing as media organizations spent over Php 48 million from January to March 2025 alone to boost political content.

“Unlike crude disinformation, these tactics focus on manipulating the source rather than the message. It’s not obvious to ordinary users that what they’re reading is paid political content,” said media scholar Fatima Gaw in an interview with PCIJ, viewing the operations as sophisticated and deceptive.

One such page, Pilipinas Today, has been previously flagged by journalists for amplifying Charter change initiatives. While it continues to post news-like updates, PCIJ noted that sponsored materials promoting politicians are seamlessly mixed in, making it difficult for readers to distinguish paid content from legitimate reporting.

The pages, managed mostly by advertising firms, often change names, hide authorship, and obscure ownership, raising red flags about transparency and accountability. 

According to Meta’s Ad Library, many of these pages do not clearly disclose their sponsors, and some listed page managers even denied involvement when contacted by PCIJ.

“It’s the orchestration of a fake grassroots movement. These Facebook pages create a manufactured momentum, a sense that a candidate is widely supported, even when that may not be the case,” said Gaw, emphasizing these as deceptions.

Recent boosted advertisements have predominantly benefited several public officials, including Senator Francis Tolentino, Makati Mayor Abby Binay, and Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna, as well as local leaders from regions such as Calabarzon, Mindanao, and Negros Oriental, notably Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Remollo.

Despite Meta’s requirement for the disclosure of political ad sponsors, the PCIJ has identified inconsistencies and fraudulent contact information tied to these advertisements. 

In certain instances, individuals named as advertisers have expressed surprise at the usage of their information.

This situation has resulted in a regulatory challenge for the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which is responsible for maintaining fair campaign practices. 

The lack of clear digital traceability hinders Comelec's ability to effectively ascertain the sources of funding and the beneficiaries of these online campaigns.

The distinction between journalism and propaganda is increasingly unclear, posing a serious threat to electoral integrity. This issue is particularly significant in the digital age, where many Filipinos primarily rely on Facebook for news.

“People trust these pages because they look like legitimate news outlets. That trust is being weaponized,” Gaw stressed.

Without reforms, the misuse of social media could further distort democratic processes, enabling well-funded campaigns to dominate online narratives while deceiving voters.

PCIJ has announced that its full report will be released after the elections, but its preliminary findings already indicate an urgent need to reassess how political influence operates in the digital public sphere.