Filipinos Turn to AI for News as Disinformation Fears and Language Gaps Persist

Chatbots Enter the Philippine News Mix

Nine percent of Filipinos use artificial intelligence chatbots for news, while 10% use them to verify information, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025. The findings put a new way of getting information alongside a much larger shift toward online news, social platforms and video.

The report surveyed more than 97,000 respondents across 48 markets, including 2,014 Filipino adults. For the first time, it recognised AI chatbots as a distinct news source. Their use is higher among people under 35, pointing to a change in how younger audiences seek information.

As of June 18, 2025, the Philippine picture combines experimentation with caution. Chatbots offer quick answers and explanations, yet concern about online misinformation and disinformation has reached 67%, a record level. Only 21% of respondents are comfortable with news produced mostly by AI with some human oversight.

Local projects are trying to make these tools more useful to people who speak Filipino, Taglish and regional languages. News organisations are also developing chatbots intended to connect readers with verified information. Their work faces practical limits, including uneven internet access and a shortage of material in local languages for training AI systems.

The central challenge is therefore broader than getting people to try a chatbot. Filipinos want information that is understandable and accessible, while also asking news organisations for accuracy, evidence, independence and reporting grounded in events. The survey shows those demands developing together, rather than a simple move away from journalists toward machines.

Why People Are Asking AI About the News

ChatGPT, Meta AI and Google Gemini give users a conversational way to request information. Instead of looking through a series of stories, a person can ask for an answer, a summary or an explanation. Convenience and the ability to receive information quickly help explain their appeal.

Personalisation is another attraction. A chatbot can present information in a form that feels easier to follow, while tools designed for local languages aim to reach people who are less comfortable reading English. For a reader faced with unfamiliar terms or a complicated public issue, an accessible explanation can make the subject easier to approach.

Jaemark Tordecilla, a Filipino journalist and technologist, has highlighted the potential for AI tools to widen access to complex information, including government budgets. His point concerns both journalists and the public: information can be available yet still difficult to understand, and tools that explain it could make it more useful.

The two chatbot figures describe related activities. The 9% figure concerns getting news, while the 10% figure concerns checking information. Together, they show that Filipinos are bringing AI into both the search for an account of events and the effort to decide whether a claim is accurate.

Online Platforms Still Dominate

AI chatbots are entering a news environment already shaped by digital platforms. The report puts the share of Filipinos citing any online source, including websites and apps, as their primary news source at 85%. Social media accounts for 66%, compared with 46% for television and 13% for print.

Facebook and YouTube remain major routes to news, with figures of 65% and 50%, respectively. Their reach places chatbot use in perspective: AI is an emerging part of the information mix, while established social platforms continue to occupy a much larger place in everyday news habits.

Video is especially important. Fifty-one percent of Filipinos prefer watching news, compared with 29% who prefer reading and 13% who prefer listening. The preference for watching is substantially higher than the global average.

YouTube and TikTok have become central to news consumption, particularly for younger audiences. News creators whose appeal centres on their personalities are also gaining prominence. The shift involves the form of news as well as the place where people find it: audiences increasingly encounter information through video and recognisable presenters.

Chatbots offer a different experience from those platforms. Their attraction lies in answers, summaries and explanations, while video platforms meet the strong preference for watching. Both developments are part of the wider movement away from reliance on television and print.

Disinformation Fears Drive More Checking

Concern about online misinformation and disinformation has reached 67% in the Philippines, well above the global average. Misinformation means inaccurate information; disinformation involves deliberate deception. Both make it harder for readers to work out which accounts deserve their confidence.

The anxiety comes amid political turmoil, including the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte and the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court. These events form part of a highly polarised setting in which people encounter competing claims about major public developments.

Facebook, TikTok and YouTube lead the list of social platforms viewed as channels for disinformation. Their importance as places to find news also makes the accuracy of information circulating on them a pressing concern for audiences.

Filipinos use several routes to check what they encounter. Forty percent consult official government channels, while 34% turn to fact-checking sites. The latter figure exceeds the global average of 25% by nine percentage points.

Younger respondents also show a habit of comparing sources. Among those aged 18 to 24, 26% use three sources for verification and 12% use four. The use of AI chatbots for checking information sits within this broader search for confirmation, alongside official channels and services dedicated to examining disputed claims.

Local Chatbots Address Language and Access

The Advanced Science and Technology Institute is developing iTanong, a government backed chatbot designed to answer questions in Filipino and Taglish, with other regional languages planned. Taglish combines Tagalog and English. The project aims to widen access to government services and information, especially for people less comfortable with English.

Global chatbots can struggle with local languages and cultural nuances. A response may be difficult to use when its language or explanation does not fit the person asking the question. Local development seeks to address that gap by making the tools more relevant to Filipino users.

Rappler has launched Rai, an internal chatbot that directs users toward verified information and election explainers. Its role includes helping people navigate information during periods when inaccurate claims can affect their understanding of public events.

VERA Files has developed VERA, an AI assisted bot for checking facts on Facebook Messenger. It gives users a way to seek quick verification of suspicious claims through a platform they already use.

These initiatives serve different purposes. iTanong focuses on access to government information and services, while Rai and VERA help users find verified information or check claims. Together, they show local efforts to connect AI with specific information needs rather than relying entirely on general purpose global tools.

People Prefer a Human Role in Journalism

Filipinos remain cautious about handing news production largely to AI. Only 21% are comfortable with news generated mostly by AI with some human oversight. A larger share, 35%, prefer news written by humans with AI assistance.

The difference is 14 percentage points. It shows a stronger preference for journalists remaining responsible for writing the news while using AI as a supporting tool. Getting information through a chatbot and accepting a story produced mostly by AI are different choices for an audience.

Personalisation attracts more interest. About a third of respondents express interest in features such as summaries produced by AI or story recommendations. Those functions can help readers navigate information without requiring the entire report to be generated by a machine.

The findings place limits around the enthusiasm for convenience. Audiences may welcome help finding or understanding a story while still wanting people involved in its production. Local efforts to guide users toward verified information fit into that demand for useful technology alongside human editorial responsibility.

Trust Depends on Evidence and Reporting

Yvonne Chua, an associate professor at the University of the Philippines and a contributor to the Digital News Report, notes that trust in news has held steady at 38%. Trust in individual media brands, however, has declined amid intensified political disinformation.

Chua also explains that public trust is not necessarily a measure of content quality or reliability. For readers, that means confidence in a familiar name and the quality of the evidence behind a particular story are separate considerations.

Filipino audiences identify four areas where news organisations can improve. Accuracy and truth telling come first, supported by verifiable facts, multiple sources and rigorous checking. Transparency means showing sources and evidence, including transcripts, images and data.

Impartiality is another demand. Audiences want balanced reporting and independence from political actors. They also want better reporting: timely, original coverage from where events happen, rather than a heavy dependence on topics pushed into view by algorithms.

These requests give concrete meaning to the search for trustworthy news. Readers are asking for work they can examine, reporting that adds information and editorial decisions that are independent of political interests. A faster answer alone does not meet all of those expectations.

News Fatigue Is Changing Audience Habits

Nearly half of Filipinos, 48%, say they sometimes or often avoid the news. Their reasons include both the subjects being covered and the experience of following them.

Excessive political coverage is cited by 41%, while 38% say news negatively affects their mood. Another 34% point to reporting they consider untrustworthy or biased, and 27% feel worn out by the volume of news.

These figures mirror global patterns of news avoidance and fatigue. In the Philippines, intense political polarisation and the spread of disinformation shape the experience, adding pressure to audiences already managing a large flow of information.

Making news accessible therefore involves more than putting it on another platform. Relevance and clear explanations matter, especially for younger audiences and people who find complex or technical language difficult. The appeal of summaries and conversational answers sits alongside these concerns about effort, mood and information overload.

The Language Gap Extends Beyond Translation

Most mainstream AI models are trained primarily in English. Training is the process through which an AI system learns patterns from material such as text. When much less material is available in another language, developers have fewer resources for building tools suited to its speakers.

Speakers of Filipino and regional languages therefore face a disadvantage. The AI language gap risks excluding millions from the benefits of new technology, even as chatbots promise to make information easier to reach.

iTanong and other local projects seek to narrow that gap, but progress faces limited resources, infrastructure problems and bureaucratic obstacles. Limited digital infrastructure and uneven internet access create further difficulties for the people these tools are intended to serve.

The Philippine experience is part of a broader challenge across the Global South. Nieman Lab has highlighted how a shortage of training data for less dominant languages deepens inequalities and limits the reach of journalism using AI. Newsrooms must adapt tools to local languages and cultural settings, not simply adopt systems built around English.

Some countries are developing tools tailored to their own linguistic and cultural needs. In the Philippines, journalists, technologists and government agencies are pursuing related work across public and private organisations. Greater investment in digital literacy, internet access and ethical standards is needed if the benefits are to reach beyond urban centres and people with higher education.

Key Points

• The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 surveyed 2,014 Filipino adults within a study covering more than 97,000 people across 48 markets.
• Nine percent of Filipinos use AI chatbots for news, and 10% use them to verify information. News use is higher among people under 35.
• Online sources dominate, while 51% prefer watching news, compared with 29% who prefer reading and 13% who prefer listening.
• Concern about online misinformation and disinformation has reached a record 67%.
• iTanong, Rai and VERA address local needs involving language, public information, verified news and checking claims.
• Thirty-five percent prefer news written by humans with AI assistance, compared with 21% comfortable with news produced mostly by AI under human oversight.
• Trust in news stands at 38%, while 48% sometimes or often avoid it.
• Limited language data, uneven internet access and resource constraints remain obstacles to making AI useful to more Filipinos.