Made in China “Mocha” is Cancelledt

is cancelledt

By I don’t judge and I don’t vfresh

Have you ever heard of “the” queen? No, it is not the Queen of Scots nor Queen Elizabeth II of England. It is a person of influence, someone who has gained popularity through social media— Facebook and Twitter. Being followed and liked by over 5 million people because of the compelling shared posts, which majority of it are misleading information, offensive, and false reports. Due to this repetitive act, Ms. “Mocha” deserves a crown of her own. That is why the Philippine netizens gave her the title of a queen: the “Queen of Fake News”. But the blame is not entirely hers for repeatedly spreading and propagating fake news that thousands of people read and believe, because she is just a mere victim of false contextualization.

The global pandemic became a great opportunity for citizens to attack and throw shady remarks to someone with good intentions amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Quite opportunistic just like Mocha’s Blog. A Facebook page created way back in 2006 that gives sex-related advices then converted into an avenue for political advocacy that strongly supports the Duterte administration in 2016. It seems like the sex-related posts did not garner as much followers so she needed to change her strategy, which worked. From that turning point, the page itself bloomed with many die-hard Duterte supporters (DDS) along with the lies, hate speech, and disinformation shared/produced by the admin of this network. Sadly, the topography of the Philippines will not adjust to her “Mayon in Naga” blunder.

Consequently, #MochaUsonIsOverParty became trending on Twitter because of a shared post by Banat By— context includes criticisms and negative remarks to the Pasig City Mayor, Vico Sotto. And then what happened? Nothing interesting, the page was already notorious for biased posts and propaganda, it just had sparked the fire within the thousands of woke and furious netizens. A public backlash against the former assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), current deputy administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and a controversial blogger, Ms. Margaux “Mocha” Uson. The hashtag is a movement that the public demands that involves a collective group of people to do mass reporting to take down the page “Mocha Uson Blog” on Facebook and Twitter. It had to be done sooner or later.

Mocha Uson Blog is indeed an epitome of the freedom of speech being misused. That is always the way, isn’t it? Although Mocha Uson’s position in the government plays a role into why her page was condemned publicly, the overlooking of the responsibility of fact checking was the very reason why the public appeals for the abolishment of her social media platforms. The mass reporting is significant because it is the manifestation of the public’s response against the proliferation of fake news. It does not mark the infectivity of invalidating fraudulent statements by fact checking in the comment section. Hence it marks the possibility of putting an end to stubborn individuals or groups that continuously disseminate false information despite criticisms and warnings.

Amidst the mass reporting against the page, it somehow found its way to exist. Whether the account was taken down by the management of Facebook and Twitter or it was deactivated and got revived after the issue was toned down, the reason remains unknown. Moreover, fake news, the pandemic that had existed even before the COVID-19, must halt absolutely. Ultimately, it is not wrong to voice out opinions and arguments that either support or criticize the government as long as it is supported by the truth. A wisdom that needs to be absorbed multiple times by a particular “public figure”— like Mocha, who is a fake news victim and a peddler. If disregarded, well #MochaUsonIsOverPartyPart2 is coming soon.