Upset about extrajudicial executions: protester at an anti-Duterte rally in Manila in September 2020.
Like social movements, right-wing populists need to mobilise supporters. In the Philippines, however, the Duterte administration is spreading strategic disinformation on social media.
Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, straddles two centuries. On the one hand, he is a classic “Third World Dictator” of the 20th century. On the other, he owes his rise to Facebook, the multinational internet corporation of the 21st century.
Duterte is probably the first president ever to be elected thanks to social media (Donald Trump may have been the second). Facebook played a decisive role in shaping the Philippine leader’s image, attacking his opponents and deluding a large number of people (see box).