Social Media Evolution, Philippines and Maria Ressa:

Maria Ressa, Nobel Prize winner, journalist and CEO Rappler (Philippines)

In 2004 Internet social media was just getting going. Rappler received information that a Philippines President Election might have been rigged. The status quo’s reaction was to supress any activates around the topic. This was done by attacking the traditional media companies, passing laws to corral the situation and literally ‘gunning’ for journalists. Her book, How to Stand up to Dictators, documents social media the search for money and power rather than for facts.

Social media initially served as a positive force for democratic engagement

Rappler used ‘social media as the megaphone’ and broadcasted a call to action. This energised the Pilipino community, The then new US based social media company, Facebook, became an alpha partner with Twitter being used. Probably a first: internet social media used across a country to show unaltered facts in real time. The engagement was highly successful resulting in positive and active community involvement.  

The evolution of social media platforms toward prioritizing engagement over truth

In 2010, the Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions started. In the West, a debate was triggered about social media accelerating these revolutions. At this time, Authoritarian governments could not keep up with social media, but the platforms were chasing revenue. A turning point as misinformation began to rise to retain the status quo and influence communities and companies

The rise of misinformation, fake accounts, and manipulation tactics

Philippines continue to be at the forefront of misinformation and by 2019 became a top Fraud Hub and a global leader in online attacks through:

• Engineering seven thousand times/minute clicks to make hashtags trend
• Astroturfing to boost clicks/comments e.g. adding old pictures to enhance incidents
• ‘Friends of friends’ campaign increasing data distribution by:
  • Friends accounts often belonged to more groups than actual friends
  • One ‘friends of friends’ accounts totalled 26 and all data was an illusion
• Influencers move from one discipline to another without any disclosures
• Algorithms generating likes to a particular point of view 

Regulatory responses including GDPR and actions against Facebook/Meta

In March 2018 the Cambridge Analytics (CA) were shown to have been harvesting information from 87 million Facebook accounts. This assisted Republican party’s 2016 US election and the UK’s Brexit Referendum.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled with Facebook for $5 billion by improperly provided data to CA from up to 87 million Facebook users. The investigation focused on whether Facebook had violated a 2011 agreement under which it was required to clearly notify users and gain "express consent" to share their data. 

In recent years, the EU and UK have both introduced new regimes regulating Big Tech companies with the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC Act).

Financial fraud increasingly originating on social media platforms

Financial Services are wrestling with billions of dollars of fraud being initiated by social media users. In the UK 76% of all types of finance scams start with social media. The charity, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, believes 9 million people have been affected by scams.

The global move to Instant Payments, in trial in the US (FedNow), mandated by EU Directive in October 2025 and the fastest growing payment channel in the UK sees payments made within 10 seconds. That is, the sender and receiver of the money globally, details must be factually correct at the time of payment. Once the payment is made, it is gone. Any recourse is timely, expensive and without banks accepting liability the money is payors lost.

Call to action

Digital Verification is a must for Financial Services which the City of London, motto: ‘My word is my bond’ is underway. Social media should be encouraged to have DV. Agree it’s a massive task but Marie, in the early days, could see what good social media can bring. 

The lure of money, power and technological advancement without a set of rules are creating a toxic environment.  The Queensberry Rules, formulated in 1867, established modern boxing. Something similar for social media is suggested. Financial Service and scammed customers would be fully supportive.