THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is looking into whether certain individuals are orchestrating the spread of fake news by vloggers in the country.
“Pinag-aaralan naming mabuti kung bakit ganoon ang tema ng mga vloggers natin ngayon. Meron bang namumuno sa kanila? Tinitignan po namin ‘yan,” said NBI Director Jaime Santiago.
The official said they have identified at least 20 vloggers who have been flagged for spreading fake news. Many of them, he added, seem to focus on the same topics, which the agency finds suspicious.
“Tinitignan namin bakit dumadami. Bakit parang iisa ang tema nila? Sumasakay sa kaguluhan ng ating political atmosphere,” Santiago said.
He added that the NBI began coordinating with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) last week to pursue the probe.
Asked if the disinformation is connected to reports about former president Rodrigo Duterte’s supposed arrest, Santiago said, “Lahat na. Lahat na. Pati ‘yung paninira nila sa mga government officials. Kung anu-ano ‘yung sinasabi nilang balita na hindi naman totoo.”
To support the NBI’s cybercrime efforts, Santiago also announced that the latest batch of 44 NBI agents is expected to help crack down on emerging trends in online crime.
Batch 52 of the NBI Academy—composed of 32 lawyers, 10 accountants, and two licensed criminologists—will undergo training in IT forensics from Australian experts, he said.
