Comelec Visayas Regional Director Atty. Francisco Pobe announced in a press conference that content creators in social media and digital platforms who are creating content for political candidates should be accredited by the Commission on Election.
The purpose of the said requirement is to monitor election promotional content, level the playing field for all political candidtaes and for disclosure of election-related earnings. When asked to clarify the need for accreditation which seemed like a new policy, the regional director stated that the act would like to make sure that there will be no abuse of the freedom of speech and expression. Regulating content of bloggers, influencers and other content creators that produce content for politicians whether national or local complies with our constitutional provision on the freedom of expression because such freeedom is not absolute, and we also wanted to protect the rights of candidates that do not have the same amount of money to spend on those promoters. The move will also reveal how much do political candidates and parties pay such content cretaors and promoters.
He further said that the industry is tapped by political candidates and PR companies as a means to promote themselves, reach a wider audience through the content creators’ followers and audience and campaign for votes through their various platforms. To avoid moneyed parties to abuse the system and to give equal protection to those who may not afford such service, Comelec thinks it is just right to accredit content creators for transparency and full disclosure.
What do you think about this move by Comelec? Is it fair to all? Is it encroaching on the creators’ right and freedom of expresssion? Share your thoughts with us.