Duterte camp spent $200,000 for troll army, Oxford study finds
MANILA, Philippines — A University of Oxford study found that $200,000, around P10 million, was spent to hire trolls who would spread propaganda for President Rodrigo Duterte and target his opposition.
“I spent P10 million? Me? Maybe in the elections, in the elections I spent more than that…They were all during the campaign,” Duterte said.
“Oxford University? That’s a school for the stupid people),” he said.
The study said that Duterte’s team of 400 to 500 cyber troops post nationalistic and pro-government comments and interact with dissenters through harassment and individual targeting. Membership in cyber troop teams in the Philippines is "liminal" but with some...