SEN. PANfiLO “PING” LACSON URGED THE PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY VOTERS, TO fiGHT INternet trolls, a source of fake news, by reporting and blocking them.

The senator said the “resistreport-block” other social media platforms to is the three-point crack down on them. habit that ordinary Filipinos can “We know trolls are financially develop against internet trolls and emotionally fueled by agitating while waiting for Facebook and and getting a response from their targets. Denying them that fuel is a good first step,” he said.

In a statement on Wednesday, Lacson said he himself has also encountered and dealt with trolls on social media.

He said he has blocked from his Twitter account those who are “out of topic, out of reason, and out of their mind, and whose only happiness is to bash like a troll.” He had blocked over 2,000 accounts as of June 2021.

Lacson backed the call of Senate President Vicente Tito” Sotto 3rd to Facebook Philippines to act against troll farms supposedly being set up by some individuals to discredit some candidates running for the 2022 national elections.

He earlier cited information reaching him indicating that an undersecretary was organizing troll farms, two in each province, in time for next year’s election.

“But as we wait for the companies concerned to take appropriate action, it would be better for us to develop the habits that will deny these trolls their prize,” he said on Wednesday.

Lacson cited some signs of online trolls that ordinary Filipinos can look out for. These include the person’s main Facebook profile “has no activity and usually has a generic or unidentifiable profile photo.”

They are “overly aggressive and/or condescending behavior, with targeted offensive messages instead of reasonable arguments.”

He said trolls “use ‘copy-paste’ or distinguishable patterns in their comments and “use fake news and/or twisted logic.”

Lacson said the troll’s page would show a “sudden surge of ‘like-minded’ comments targeting and attacking one who does not share their views.”