THE public has seen it before, and it will see it again as the 2025 midterm elections approach. It's barely 13 months until the next major electoral exercise, and influence operations will likely start again with the filing of the certificates of candidacy slated for the first week of October 2024.

Just last February, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reminded the public that it only had one official Facebook page and warned that the Facebook page Malayanghalalan Twentytwentyfive was in no way connected to the Comelec. The Comelec further advised the public not to trust any news or information from that Facebook account.