Why Julia Barretto decided to stand up against ‘fake news’

MANILA, Philippines — Julia Barretto has had enough of “fake news.” So for once, she decided to do something about it.

“Totoo naman na marami na rin akong mga pinalagpas na mga false information about me na usually dine-dedma ko lang (It’s true that I ignored a lot of false information about me before, usually I just dismiss it),” confessed the young actress during a press conference Wednesday, officially announcing she is now a talent of the Viva Artists Agency.

However, when former broadcaster and administration supporter Jay Sonza claimed that she was pregnant with Gerald Anderson’s child, she thought that it’s time to take action.

First, she proved Sonza’s claims as “fake news” by showing off her toned abdomen in a photo-post on Instagram. Then, she took legal action against Sonza at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). She accused Sonza of cyber libel and violating the Safe Spaces Act.

“I felt it was about time to make an action to try to stop it,” she said.

Barretto said she keeps up with current events, and has started to worry about the prevalence of false information on social media.

“Parang everything that we want to read, gusto natin, as much as possible, ‘yung totoo,” she said.

(It’s as if everything that we want to read, as much as possible, is true.)

“If you were to confirm something like that, it’s not supposed to come from you, it’s always supposed to come from the people who are involved, somebody close to me, from a family member, from a friend,” she said of what Sonza should have done instead to find out the truth about the pregnancy rumor.

“Eh ‘yung gumawa ng article, wala rin naman pong effort ng time na ‘yun to get in contact with me, and for the truth, walang ganun eh. He just confirmed it, with no basis,” she added.

(But the one who wrote the article did not even make the effort at that time to get in contact with me, and for the truth. He just confirmed it, with no basis.)

Further, she said: “I was proud of myself because, for the first time, I stood up for myself.

“For the first time, I defended myself and for the first time, I protected myself.”

“It’s the first time I actually put an action to do that for myself and like I always say, as much as it’s important to protect your loved ones, it’s also important to protect yourself,” she added.

As of the moment, the actress said the NBI is investigating the case.

“What I am waiting for is feedback from the NBI from our report and we can go ahead with our case,” Barretto said.

KGA