Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. greets a small group of supporters after filing his certificate of candidacy for next year's presidential elections with the Commission on Elections at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Manila, Philippines on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Manila, Philippines. - AP
MANILA, Jan 20 (Bloomberg): Twitter Inc. suspended more than 300 accounts promoting Philippines presidential frontrunner Ferdinand "Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for violating its policies on platform manipulation and spam.
The majority of these social media accounts had already been taken down as part of routine actions before news website Rappler’s report on pro-Marcos Twitter handles, the company said. An investigation into the matter is ongoing, it added.
"With the Philippine elections taking place this May, we remain vigilant about identifying and eliminating suspected information campaigns targeting election conversations,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Marcos’s spokesman Vic Rodriguez didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment via mobile-phone message.
Marcos, who led last month’s presidential preference survey, has a dominant online presence. Independent fact-checker VERA Files said he benefited most from election-related disinformation last year.
The late dictator’s son has said he doesn’t employ online trolls and isn’t boosting his social media pages. - Bloomberg
