algorithms – Katrina Stuart Santiago

If there’s anything six years of Duterte taught us, it’s that a government can survive simply on propaganda, especially one that surprises the populace with its utter kabastusan, its impropriety, where soundbites are all mainstream and social media need to ensure that news cycles keep moving and that they keep and grow their audience.

Now, under a Marcos Jr. leadership, the Duterte propaganda machinery is still at its best, doing what it knows to do: get attention. They know that it doesn’t matter if it’s considered as “good” or “bad”—all that matters is that they take over newsfeeds across our platforms.

Here is where we realize that while algorithms dictate what we see on every platform, i.e., Facebook, X, Tiktok, YouTube, etc., when all those algorithms actually show the same thing, then someone did their jobs right.

And as far as one can tell, it’s the Dutertes that have the power to cross over the different platforms, with as little as a soundbite during an otherwise random ambush interview with the media.

But here’s the other thing with Duterte propaganda: it is relentless. It cares very little about those of us who are critical of that family, or who think them despicable. Certainly it cares little about delivering actual data and facts about what it was like living under that misogynist, sexist, violent leadership. In fact, what it does consistently now is to highlight how much better Duterte years were than the past two years under Marcos. It doesn’t matter that this is untrue in terms of basic human rights, vicious rhetoric, ethical governance, compassionate leadership. All that matters is that they are repeating at scale this propaganda that Duterte was the best, across various platforms.

So close to the SONA though, and now with the rift-made-public between the President and Vice President, it’s also become crystal clear that we are as much players in this two-player game even as we seem to be outside of it. (more…)

While political pundits in mainstream media claim that Sara Duterte’s resignation from the Marcos Cabinet was expected, it is important to speak of its timing. After all, on and for social media and digital platforms, everything is content, and major announcements like this one is fuel for mass drops and mileage. Over in the other country that is the Marcos-Duterte Tiktok algorithm, this resignation was not only expected, they were ready for it.

Since two days ago, the VP has taken over the algorithm like it’s nobody’s business, unseating the dominance of the Roque-MrSupranational memes, the West Philippine Sea content, and the usual Marcos-activities-based content. Considering that we had just come from Independence Day celebrations and the President continues to travel the country to distribute all sorts of assistance himself, there is usually enough content that sustains him. But Sara’s army has been pretty solid, churning out content that drowns out everybody else. Unsurprisingly, this includes a bunch of SMNI and SMNI-related accounts, solid Duterte accounts, and even accounts with low mileage, but which have been mass dropping support-Sara videos.

And when I say they were “ready” for it, I do also mean that the content has been making connections the mainstream cannot even begin to talk about. For example, highlighting the fact that it was also on June 19 two years ago when Sara had taken her oath as Vice President, which allows them to spin her resignation as an act that brings her back to the position she had won—the one that proves the love and support of “the people”—and not the position(s) that were given to her by the President turned non-ally. There also seems to be massive content that quickly drew the line between her and the President, not just ending the Uniteam illusion, but also championing the Sara side of it, the one that was green, the one that was about the eagle.

As with the Marcos legacy campaign of 2022, there is much here that harks back to the Duterte father’s 2016 campaign, with content declaring in so many words that change is finally coming, because Inday Sara is now free from her cabinet positions, now on a clean break from the administration. This means a major change for “the opposition”—a label that the Duterte propagandists claim is theirs. Tied to content that came from the last Maisug rally in Pampanga, where the older Duterte declared that they were not wanting to take down the Marcos government; and where the younger Duterte mayor insisted that all they were asking for was that the President “listen to the majority”—referring of course to themselves; the declaration of a stronger “opposition” now that the Vice President is free to be opposition, has become a very seamless narrative.

(more…)

Been meaning to get this series off the ground, a way to keep track, make sense, maybe just take note of a Tiktok feed that is not mine, but which has been nurtured since November 2021.

When I say this feed is not mine, it is to say that its basis is not my personal taste nor my political leaning. Instead it is to say that this feed has been deliberately kept and consumed, which to an extent is to encourage and enable it, regardless of whether I agree with the content it cradles or not. My agreement is extraneous to this Tiktok feed; all it knows is my behaviour on the platform, which tells the internal logic of the app that this is the content that I want to see, that this is what interests me, that this is what I want more of.

This is not to say that I know completely how this algorithm works (I don’t think anyone does at this point—it is made in China after all and is devoid of any kind of transparency), but what I know for sure is this: this Tiktok algorithm is one that I have in common with Marcos-Duterte supporters—manufactured and otherwise. They are the ones creating content for it, spreading propaganda through it, and engaging in debates and discussions on it.

The other thing I know for sure: that another nation altogether unfolds here, on this algorithm that is not mine, that I would otherwise be removed from, that I would otherwise not see. What it carries are communities unimaginable to us, who live on other algorithms altogether, across the different platforms we inhabit. (more…)

If there’s anything that one has consistently been reminded about throughout 2023, it is that we still do not know how to deal with the propaganda landscape that the Duterte leadership had established for six years, and which, regardless of the Dutertes’s “lesser” position politically, is the game we are all stuck playing.

I speak of 2023 because in 2022, we were all just in a post-election haze, regardless of where we were / are on the political spectrum. If you were on the side of Marcos-Duterte, you were just on a high, doing the parties, enjoying the perks that come with having campaigned for the winner. If you were on the side of Robredo-Pangilinan, then you would fall under either of two groups: the ones who disengaged completely from politics and governance, maybe in disgust, probably as a by-product of despair; or the ones who tried to keep the anger going by carrying on as if nothing had changed — after all, a Duterte is still in power, and Duterte himself seemed to have set the stage for a Marcos win.

Presidential sister Imee has said it in so many words: President Duterte had eradicated their enemies.

But also, and this seems important to realize for all of us, Duterte had set the stage for this present, where the opposition, at best, has completely lost its footing, regardless of where we are on that spectrum that spans the Liberals and the Left. (more…)

Of the many absurdities that I have found myself enduring since all headspace and energy were taken over by the May 9 2022 vote, it is this particular space called Marcos propaganda that has been most instructive.

Its instructions for followers are basic: simplify the campaign, do not speak down to voters, keep our candidate in his safe space, get rabid propagandists to balance out the simplified campaign and simpleton candidate, while giving both the campaign and candidate deniability for the trash the rest of the propaganda strategy spews.

But what might be more instructive is what it teaches us about ourselves, who are on this side of the battle for democracy, rights, and justice. (more…)

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