Wat da fact!

Facebook, already reeling from privacy and other issues that strike at the very core of its credibility as a social media platform, just made another unwise decision in taking on Rappler and Vera Files as content fact-checkers. These two Philippine media entities are themselves saddled with credibility issues that have not only weighed them down but will similarly do Facebook eventually.

Now, there is no question that the people at Rappler and Vera Files are highly qualified to do fact-checking. But it is not ability that is at question here. Both entities have been compromised by their reporting on the Duterte administration, which some consider biased and antagonistic. Even if such accusations are taken with a grain of salt, given the current highly divisive Philippine political atmosphere, the fact is they are out there, putting their credibility into question.

In other words, even if, granted for the sake of argument that the accusations are utterly baseless, the mere fact that they are out there will nevertheless still weigh heavily on the credibility of Rappler and Vera Files. And that is what will make or break the larger attempt of Facebook to repair what is left of its own damaged credibility.

For credibility is the thing. The tiniest whiff of doubt will render the whole feeble structure of credibility falling. This is precisely why the issue of fake news, which lies at the very heart of why there is a need for fact-checking in the first place, has to be vigorously addressed. Because fake news, even if patently and essentially untrue, has the ability to inflict irreparable and lasting damage on anyone and anything.

Rappler and Vera Files, no doubt, can do an incredible job at fact-checking. But the problem is will they be credible. If the fact-checkers are suspect, so is the product of their fact-checking. Facebook must have been severely addled by its own credibility problems that it failed to do some fact-checking on its own as to whether it hired the right outfits to do some fact-checking on its behalf.

But what really makes it worse for Rappler and Vera Files, and eventually Facebook, is that the accusations against the two Philippine online media entities are not utterly without basis, as suggested earlier for the sake of argument. There are verifiable grounds for the accusations to be made, grounds that both media entities may be hardpressed to counter and explain in light of the evidence. All one has to do is fact-check all their prior Duterte reporting. It is not enough to claim they are just being persecuted by the Duterte administration because that is an entirely different issue altogether. Even if indeed the Duterte administration is going hammer and tongs after Rappler and Vera Files, that does not alter the fact that in their reporting of the Duterte administration, they almost always go for the unflattering spin to their stories.

That is precisely why even all the years behind veteran journalist Ellen Tordesillas of Vera Files could not help prop her up when grilled by young TV anchor Christian Esguerra on ANC earlier this week. Tordesillas sputtered at the probing and direct questions of Esguerra that tended to assail the credibility of Rappler and Vera Files. The best she could do was answer in generalities and motherhood statements.