ALDUBriela Summary Report | September 2015-January 2016

When we formed the ALDUBriela in September 2015, we had a very simple goal–to protect and defend ALDUB and the ALDUB Nation. To achieve this goal, we formed a subgroup known as the Guardians, whose task is to call for a massive report-and-block action against identified bashers, cyber bullies, and perpetrators of cyber violence. In addition, we also set up the Resource Team whose main duty is to gather information and provide research on various women’s issues like sexism, sexual objectification, and internet harassment. The third arm of the ALDUBriela is the Acticom, whose job is to conceive creative and exciting activities that would motivate fans/netizens to maintain ALDUB’s powerful presence on social media.

This report will mainly focus on the experience ALDUBriela had in terms of defending ALDUB against bashing and sexual harassment.

The Harassment of ALDUB on Social Media

In a span of only four months, we received an alarming number of reports about certain netizens who use their Twitter accounts to denigrate, defame and create damage on ALDUB’s wholesome public image. (Some of the accounts are also used to post malicious and below-the-belt remarks against other local celebrities.) The ALDUBriela has identified (as of this writing) at least 20 active Twitter accounts used to publish harmful and offensive remarks against ALDUB. The most resilient and most notorious of these bashers are the following:

Some of the most common comments shamelessly displayed against ALDUB by these accounts are “aldog,” “algalis,” “putangina,” “bobo nation,” “#aldog,” “#aldoghugotlines,” “#asalkalye,” “aljake,” “baekla,” “aldena,” “#ALDUBYulin2016,” “baeklita,” “chupadora,” “my bolbol love,”  etc.

Apart from these comments, bashers also publish digitally manipulated pornographic pictures ALDUB and other celebrities. Many of these digitally manipulated photos portray Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza in a very obscene manner–topless, fully naked, sexual, misogynistic, homophobic, pornographic.  They also post and spread screenshots of Wally Bayola’s intimate video on Twitter. (Screenshots will not be posted here.)

In December 2015, alleged fans of young popular singer Julie Anne San Jose posted threats of physical harm against Maine Mendoza on social media:

But perhaps the most disturbing report we received was the one that contains rape threats against Maine Mendoza. In a very graphic manner, this Facebook user describes how he plans to rape and murder Maine Mendoza:

The ALDUB Nation’s Collective Action Against Cyber-Violence

The ALDUBriela teamed up with other fan groups/subgroups to implement its report-and-block action against Twitter accounts identified to have published malicious and damaging remarks and images against ALDUB. These groups are the ALDUB Protectors, ALDUB Barakos, ALDUB Hydra, ALDUB Strawhat Pirates, and the Legion of Batchinatics. The ALDUBriela also cooperates with the ALDUB Hashtag Squad and ALDUB Maiden Scanner in eliminating spammers and removing spammed tweets/hashtags. ALDUB Ambassador @IAmWholeHearted and other “big accounts” (e.g. Twitter accounts of traditional fan clubs affiliated with the ALDUB Nation) also help out in encouraging more netizens to report and block Twitter accounts used for malicious intent.

Through the collective action of the ALDUB Nation, some of the accounts used to harass ALDUB have already been suspended.

On December 2015, the ALDUBriela submitted a report/complaint against the most brutal basher named “Redge” (@NayRedge, @NanayRedge, @MamuRedge) to GABRIELA Philippines and PNP-CIDG. Both GABRIELA and PNP-CIDG have not yet responded (as of this writing).

In line with ALDUBriela’s report-and-block campaign, Twitter forums are also held in order to educate netizens about their rights and spread helpful information on cyber  bullying and internet harassment. In fact, the ALDUBriela invited GABRIELA Philippines to talk about the continuing violence against women and their children in a Twitter forum that was held in December 2015.

We believe that our report-and-block action is toothless without education. We hope to conduct more comprehensive education campaigns that highlight important women’s issues in the future.

The Continuing Violence Against ALDUB on the Internet

Despite ALDUBriela and the ALDUB Nation’s efforts, many of the Twitter accounts mentioned above continue to violate Twitter’s existing policy on abusive behavior. Moreover, those whose accounts have been previously suspended continue to inflict harm by creating new Twitter accounts. Twitter user known as “Redge” for instance never ceased on bashing. He would simply create a new Twitter page right after the old one’s suspended. Unfazed, persistent bashers can and will continue to create Twitter accounts perhaps to perpetuate the existence of extremely offensive remarks and photos online.

It is relatively easier to reduce the number of bashers on Twitter since most of the ALDUB fans are active users of the social media platform. But bashing goes beyond Twitter and it is unfortunately very rampant on Facebook. Two of the most notorious Facebook pages known to promote and spread harmful remarks not only against ALDUB but against GMA 7 artists in general, are Facebook.com/ChakapuspTVph and Facebook.com/Chakapuso.

We also received a report about a certain Facebook fan page created apparently to make the ALDUB Nation seem like a cult:

What’s even more alarming is how Google’s algorithm interprets search phrases like “yaya dub” and “maine mendoza:”

When a user types “yaya” or “maine,” in the search bar, Google auto-suggests “yaya dub scandal” and “maine mendoza scandal” respectively. What does this imply?

We also found out that certain porn sites use the phrase “Yaya Dub Scandal” in order to attract netizens to visit their page.

Our findings also reveal that apart from the ones that portray a doctored image of Maine Mendoza, digitally manipulated obscene photos of other Filipina celebrities (like Kathryn Bernardo, Nadine Lustre, Liza Soberano, Julia Montes, Julie Anne San Jose, Julia Barretto, Janella Salvador, Maja Salvador, Ella Cruz, etc.) are also spreading online. It seems that mining such types of photos is so unfortunately easy–the syntax “[name of celebrity] + nude” produces countless number of pornographic pictures that feature photoshopped images of young popular Filipina celebrities.

ALDUB Nation, What Should We Do?

We should never suspend the efforts that we have already started to exert in order to eliminate bashers/sexual abuse perpetrators and make the internet a truly safe place.

The ALDUB Nation should unite against all forms of violence that take place on the any part of internet. First, the fans and the netizens should continue educating themselves about the various types of violence that continue to inflict lasting emotional and psychological damage not only on celebrities but on all women and children. It is through proper education that we would be able to easily and objectively identify the netizens who publish and spread pejorative, sexist, homophobic, and utterly abusive remarks and photos against women and children online.

Second, the ALDUB Nation should encourage and unite with other fandoms in extinguishing all forms of violence and abuse currently present in the internet. Hopefully, more fandoms will realize that their enemy is not one another. Instead, they should treat each other as allies against those who spread hate online.

Third, beyond reporting, blocking, and suspending accounts and pages that unabashedly promote objectified, sexist, harmful, and abusive images on the worldwideweb, the ALDUB Nation should lead other fandoms and the rest of the digital community, in persuading the Congress to pass laws that aim to protect and defend the rights and welfare of women and children.