Sen. Paolo Benigno ?Bam? Aquino IV on Friday, Sept. 30, called on the Senate to conduct an inquiry on the proper education of responsible social media use in schools.
Aquino, who chairs the Senate Committee on Education, made the call due to the prevalence of misinformation and use of abusive language in social media, especially by so-called paid ?trolls?.
Under Senate Resolution No. 173, Aquino seeks to have schools teach students on how to determine reliability and credibility of online news and views, practice digital safety and prudence, and create a positive digital footprint.
?Our schools can play a critical role in guiding students to become ethical and productive digital citizens and to communicate properly and respectfully online,? Aquino said.
The senator explained that there is also a concern on how social media is being used and abused to spread fake news and misinformation.
He noted that in the Philippines, fake news was spread widely during and following the recent national elections.
Some of social media sites, among them Facebook and Twitter, have initiated moves to combat misinformation and fake news online.
Facebook updated its News Feed to reduce the distribution of posts reported as hoaxes in January last year while Twitter released new guidelines for the moderation of abusive, hostile and offensive language in December of the same year.
According to latest data, the Philippines has the second highest social media penetration rate among Internet users in Southeast Asia, with 39.7 million people, representing 74 percent of its Internet users, regularly visiting a social network in 2015. — PNA
