Abstract:
The use of disinformation as part of digital political campaigning has been studied
in new waves of information scholarship. Information-related activities like information
pollution are propagated in shared networks that are context-dependent. In addition, the
anonymous setting of online activity in social media platforms has streamlined the
networked activities of digital disinformation. Most of those affected and targeted are
women where disinformation campaigns seek to trivialize their role and identity. Analysis
in the 2016 Philippine National Elections observed the use of the digital landscape to
secure political and electoral outcomes, much supporting the populist rhetoric of Duterte.
In addition, scholarship has observed the similarities in political figures in
different states who are notable in their hyper masculine language to address women in
positions of power, and how it extends in modern society using disinformation to target
women.
This research collated disinformation posts from five Facebook pages posted
during the Duterte administration and analyzed them through the discourse-historical
approach in critical discourse analysis and was presented through detailed case studies.
Thematic analysis was employed in the data collected to determine the recurring patterns
in the gendered practices in disinformation. Gendered practices are consistent with the
reinforcement of gender as an ideology, and are instrumental to the more complex
identities of women. The research affirms that gender ideology is weaponized to create
characterizations of women, to justify their exclusion and the targeted aggression.
