The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) denies the allegation that they are paying online trolls to defend and argue with critics of the government.
Basically, paid social media trolls are internet users whose jobs are to provoke and create heated arguments with other netizens.
Recently, some netizens accused the government of paying other netizens just to defend President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration.
However, PCOO Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan disaffirmed this accusation in an interview with ABS-CBN Teleradyo.
“Wala po kaming trolls. Ang meron pong unit namin ‘yung social media unit na gumagawa ng content. Wala pong nagmo-monitor, content po ang ginagawa,” Ablan said.
Ablan also mentioned that PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar plans to talk to Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy after lawmakers accused her of ‘red-tagging’ during their budget hearing.
Netizens questioned the statement of Ablan and still believe that there are online trolls paid by the government.
— Barnaby Lo 吳宗鴻 (@barnabychuck) September 10, 2020
Is anti-insurgency in the job description of PCOO? https://t.co/lJeyrEAXZj
— Barnaby Lo 吳宗鴻 (@barnabychuck) September 11, 2020
https://twitter.com/GoyYLarrazabal/status/1304044343687147520
https://twitter.com/whamosdlrosario/status/1304339039873634305?s=20
https://twitter.com/totsann/status/1304307073463721984?s=20
they’re not “trolls” they’re your employees https://t.co/dP8JEwyIen
— sleepyhead!™ (@LightningRawd) September 10, 2020
Nadinig na din namin yan…. katulad ng iba pang sinabi nila. We stand against china claims of our island. I forgive ABS. Walang corruption. Kaya natin ang covid….
— Gilsie (@GilCersei) September 11, 2020
Hindi porket hindi kayo nagi-issue ng troll payslip ay wala ng trolls ang gobyerno. Kitang-kita naman ang troll armada na sobrang hayok at bulag na nagtatanggol sa lahat ng anomalya at kapalpakan ng gobyerno ni #INUTILDUTERTE. https://t.co/c1GO7kCDaZ
— nütelladakila ctrl-alt-REPEAT (@thenoelest) September 11, 2020
Which reality are these people from the government hanging out? Remember your former ASEC? Wasn't she the ringleader of the troll farm? Uso ata sa PCOO na kailangan ang undersecretary capable of things such as redtagging and moving volcanoes to other places eh. https://t.co/vOuhynkkPk
— Carlo (@carlo_gar) September 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/PaulSorianoNYK/status/1304051051432009745?s=20
In 2017, Duterte confirmed that he has been paying online trolls to defend him against bashers. However, he clarified that this only occurred during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I spent P10 million? Me? Maybe in the elections, in the elections, I spent more than that…They were all during the campaign,” he said.
Oxford University also believes that the party list of Duterte, PDP Laban has spent $200,000 or P10 million for paying social media users to defend and advance Duterte.
This claim by the well-known university was slammed by Duterte.
“Oxford University? That’s a school for the stupid people),” he said.
