The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start regulating social media and web site use for election campaigns this month, but the poll body will monitor only the cost and not the content.
The Comelec finally published on Thursday its latest campaign rules and regulations, which now contain for the first time provisions on social-media use.
Comelec Resolution (CR) 10488 defines “social media” as the collective of online communication channels, including web sites and applications, that enables users to create and share content, collaborate and interact with each other. The resolution will take effect seven days after being published.
The latest issuance now requires political parties and candidates to register the web site name and the Web address of the official blog and/or social-media page they will use for their campaign to the Comelec’s Education and Information Department (EID).
The Comelec said even unregistered social media and web sites, which it would deem as “[having] the primary purpose of endorsing a candidate, whether or not directly maintained, or administered by the said candidate or his or her official campaign representatives,” will be counted to its beneficiary.
‘Cost not content’
Comelec Spokesman James B. Jimenez earlier assured their new
rules will not regulate the content of social media, but only
its cost.
“What we will do is to ensure whenever you put something out in social media, it will be regulated in terms of cost and platform used,” Jimenez said in a previous forum.
Classified as lawful election propaganda in CR 10488 are “social-media posts, whether original or reposted from some source, which may either be incidental to the poster’s advocacies of social issues or which may have for its primary purpose, the endorsement of a candidate only.”
Also allowed are paid advertisements in broadcast, Internet, mobile, print or outdoor media, which are compliant to election regulations.
Requirements
As a form of mass media, social- media firms involved in election campaign will also be required by the Comelec to submit records of their transactions.
“All broadcast and digital mass- media entities shall preserve their broadcast logs or analogous records for a period of five years from the date of broadcast for submission to the Comelec, whenever required,” the resolution read.
The affected mass-media entities will be mandated to submit at least four reports to the Comelec.
Mass-media entities with promotion dealings with national candidates are required to submit their reports on March 5, March 26, May 6 and May 17.
For those with transactions with local candidates, their schedule of submission will be on April 5, April 12, May 17 and May 20.
The Comelec said it will prescribe the schedule of submission of reports in subsequent polls.
Specifically for companies, which provided Internet-related services, they will be required to inform Comelec EID on advertising agencies or candidates, who placed online political advertisement in their web sites.
While CR 10488 imposes reporting requirements for such Internet firms, it currently has no limitation as to the number or frequencies of political ads such companies could accommodate, unlike for traditional mass media like television, print and radio.
‘Right direction’
Legal Network of Truthful Elections (Lente) Executive Di-rector Rona Ann Caritos lauded the release of the resolution since it will finally allow Comelec to properly monitor social-media spending for the elections.
“This is a good start. What is important is it [social- media spending] will now reflect in a candidates and political parties’ SOCE [Statement of Contribution and Expenditures],” Caritos told the BusinessMirror via SMS.
She noted the timeliness of the release of the guidelines, especially since the rules were issued amid the increasing role of social media in determining the outcome of elections.
Some election observers and experts have attributed the victory of President Duterte in 2016 to his strong social-media following.
Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms Executive Director Ramon Casiple also welcomed the initiative of Comelec to regulate social-media use in elections, but he noted it could still be improved.
A major limitation of the new Comelec, he said, is that it is limited to domestic companies.
“They cannot regulate any foreign web sites. So they may have the authority but not the capacity,” Casiple said via SMS.