The Commission on Elections on Saturday, December 11, said they would work with YouTube to have the official channels of candidates for the 2022 elections verified, hoping to make them more accountable for their posts on the video platform.
The poll body earlier issued the guidelines for campaigning in the 2022 elections, which include a provision requiring candidates and political parties to have platform-verified social media accounts where they could run election-related advertisements.
"Only verified accounts, websites, blogs, and/or social media pages may run electoral ads, and boost or promote electoral posts," the guidelines read.
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) spokesperson James Jimenez said a verified account improves accountability. He also recognized that even verified accounts can spread misleading or false information.
"But at least there is accountability for the information a verified account propagates," he added.
An article on YouTube's Help Center said channels are eligible to apply for verification if they have reached 100,000 subscribers.
"Sometimes, YouTube may also proactively verify channels with fewer than 100,000 subscribers that are well-known outside of YouTube," it added.
Senatorial aspirant Chel Diokno last Friday, December 10, asked his supporters to help him get enough subscribers on YouTube so that his channel could be verified. As of Saturday afternoon, his account had reached 172,000 subscribers, allowing him to have a verified check mark.
Jimenez said candidates need not to have 100,000 subscribers in order to have a verified badge.
Apart from this rule, the COMELEC also included a provision in its campaign guidelines allowing candidates to use the poll body's own social media channels to livestream their virtual meetings for free.