For this season of “Catch Me If You Can,” Jonathan Ong and Kat Ventura are having conversations with people across the political aisle. In their recent study entitled Parallel Public Spheres, they diagnosed how Philippine society is so divided that it seems like we’re living in separate political universes. Can we still rebuild our public sphere, where people can have real conversations, maybe have disagreements — but at the end of the day still treat each other as fellow citizens, rather than enemies?

Sass Sasot rose to fame during the Duterte administration, becoming one of the top 3 mega-influencers supporting former President Rodrigo Duterte. Many academic papers have been written about Sass since then, critiquing her for spreading misinformation.

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For this season of “Catch Me If You Can,” Jonathan Ong and Kat Ventura are having conversations with people across the political aisle. In their recent study entitled Parallel Public Spheres, they diagnosed how Philippine society is so divided that it seems like we’re living in separate political universes. Can we still rebuild our public sphere, where people can have real conversations, maybe have disagreements — but at the end of the day still treat each other as fellow citizens, rather than enemies?

Sass Sasot rose to fame during the Duterte administration, becoming one of the top 3 mega-influencers supporting former President Rodrigo Duterte. Many academic papers have been written about Sass since then, critiquing her for spreading misinformation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this season of “Catch Me If You Can,” Jonathan Ong and Kat Ventura are having conversations with people across the political aisle. In their recent study entitled Parallel Public Spheres, they diagnosed how Philippine society is so divided that it seems like we’re living in separate political universes. Can we still rebuild our public sphere, where people can have real conversations, maybe have disagreements — but at the end of the day still treat each other as fellow citizens, rather than enemies?

In this episode Kat talks to a political content creator and supporter of President Bongbong Marcos, known on Facebook and YouTube as Tap Wan.

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Mob behaviors meant to silent, shame, and punish political opponents became common practices on social media during the elections. Meanwhile, legacy media networks failed to gather all political camps to a national debate. But now that the elections are over, how do we move forward together after so much fighting?

Download the English report here. For the Filipino version of the report, access it here.

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Online influence operations have found new ways to skirt around fact-checking initiatives and social media policies to influence voters. In this episode, we talk about the new personalities in the study Parallel Public Spheres: Influence Operations in the 2022 Philippine Elections by Jonathan Ong, Nicole Curato, Rossine Fallorina, Jose Mari Lanuza, and Ferdinand Sanchez II.

Download the English report here. For the Filipino version of the report, access it here.

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Queer culture took center stage in the 2022 elections. Campaign rallies resembled pride marches with the presence of rainbow flags, queer hosts and free hugs. While other members of the LGBTQIA community took hold of the conversation online with their star-studded video campaigns and witty comebacks. In this episode, we highlight the role of queer people in the elections with sociologist Andoy Evangelista and Direk Rod Singh.

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Supernagatrona is one of many alter accounts that grew in popularity and influence on Twitter. It started as an account to freely voice opinions but quickly became a platform to talk about politics and connect with like-minded alter accounts. In this episode, we hear the person behind the influential alter account.

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Mike was never into politics until one night he was tapped by a group of supporters of Leni Robredo to create attack memes against the Marcoses. In this episode, we explore the world of meme factory content creators. Who creates these attack memes? And what moral dilemmas do they face?

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Catch Me If You Can returns for another season. Join Jonathan Ong and Kat Ventura as they look back at the 2022 national elections.

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When we think of trolls, we think of people working in sweatshops but this is not where we met "Grace". We interviewed her in a fancy bar of a 5-star hotel which just happens to be connected to her luxurious apartment. In this episode, we explore the "top troll" of networked disinformation with co-author of Architects of Networked Disinformation and communications Prof. Jason Cabañes.

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Nowadays anyone can become famous online. With a bit of luck and the right algorithm, anyone can become a social media influencer. But how does a personal account turn into an election campaign tool? Harvard University and University of Massachusetts Amherst Prof. Jonathan Ong and journalist Kat Ventura talk to digital marketing consultant and TikTok comedian Baus Rufo about the role influencers play in an election campaign.

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Danny didn't know exactly what he signed up for when he took the job as a PR associate in an advertising firm months before the elections. What he thought would be copywriting work turned out to be a disinformation campaign against the opponent of a local politician running for office. Harvard and UMass researcher Jonathan Ong and journalist Kat Ventura look into the psyche of "trolls" as they explore the first tier of the network disinformation in the Philippines.

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