Have you been keeping up with all the issues surrounding USAID, or the US Agency for International Development? In my latest Decoded story, I wrote about the lies and conspiracy theories about the agency, and how these were spreading online following the Trump administration’s moves to shut it down.
USAID is the US government’s arm that provides humanitarian assistance to several countries. But according to some social media posts, USAID is a criminal organization, a radical-left psy-op, and a vehicle that backs liberal or progressive groups that promote American propaganda.
We know that all too well. In the Philippines, independent media outlets have long been attacked for receiving funding from US-based organizations, including USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). These outlets are accused of their supposed pro-US or Western bias, and of supposedly serving as fronts for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
This isn’t the first time that American propaganda and disinformation have penetrated Philippine online spaces. Last year, I wrote about how Filipinos echoed American lies — from both sides of the political spectrum — about the assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
After all, it is true that the Philippines is America’s guinea pig when it comes to social media propaganda and information operations. That’s because over 7 in 10 people in the Philippines are on social media, and these platforms are barely regulated in the country. Philippine and US politics also have many similarities. As Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie put it, we had “a president who was Trump before Trump was Trump.”
Concepts surrounding disinformation, propaganda, and fake news turned mainstream around 2016, following the presidential victories of Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump. Duterte “institutionalized” disinformation with sock puppet accounts and fake networks, while the first Trump victory was preceded by Russian information operations and outrageous conspiracy theories.
In this 2019 Rappler exclusive, Wylie said the Philippines was the company’s “petri dish” for testing their strategies before implementing them in Western countries. In the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal, the Philippines ranked second to the US in terms of the number of Facebook users whose data was compromised.
Duterte and Trump are also both sharp-tongued populists who frequently hurled attacks towards critics and sowed distrust in democratic institutions. Duterte falsely claimed in 2017 that the CIA funds Rappler, and now Trump is baselessly claiming that USAID is run by “radical left lunatics.”
There’s no denying that America’s been a strong influence on the Philippines, for better or for worse.
These patterns aren’t limited to the Philippines and the US. Rappler CEO Maria Ressa previously talked about how 2024 was a “super-election year” with 74 national elections globally, which saw the loss of many of the world’s incumbents and the proliferation of more insidious voter manipulation on social media.
Next week, our lead forensics researcher Pauline Macaraeg will be publishing a story on the rise of right-wing populist narratives in Canada as the country prepares for the federal election slated for October 20 this year.
Any other parallels you’ve noticed? Let us know by sending us an email at hello@thenerve.co. – Rappler.com
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