09/11/2026
In advancing countering disinformation in the ASEAN region, stakeholders from different sectors joined together last 4-5 November 2026 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the ASEAN Multistakeholder Symposium on Mitigating Disinformation and Managing Synthetic Media in the Digital Era.
Participants reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening media and information literacy, improving cooperation among governments, media, and technology stakeholders, and responding to the risks of AI-generated content while upholding freedom of expression. They also put forward proposed ways forward, including a more comprehensive approach that goes beyond fact-checking to include proactive communication, stronger media and AI literacy, greater platform accountability, and sustained multistakeholder partnerships across the region.
The Philippine Information Agency was represented by Assistant Director-General Medardo Abad Jr. and Ms. Hannah Dyrlee Borbon, who joined the discussions and contributed to the region’s collective effort to build a more trusted information environment.
At the Forum, PIA Assistant Director-General Jun Abad suggested to the ASEAN Secretariat to explore the feasibility of establishing an ASEAN-wide multi-stakeholder advisory or consultative forum on information integrity that would advance greater transparency and accountability of recommendation algorithms for the purpose of making social media more truthful and useful and to minimize social harm. The multi-stakeholder body could be composed of governments, tech companies, media organizations, academe and civil society.
