Rappler guidelines on political advertisements for the 2022 elections

In the spirit of Philippine media’s public service role during elections and its responsibility to ensure candidates’ equitable access to promotional space, Rappler offers space for political advertising during the election period for the May 2022 national and local elections. 

The Fair Election Act, last amended in 2019, mandates the government to guarantee “access to media time and space” of qualified political parties and candidates and to allow them “lawful election propaganda,” subject to specific provisions of the law. The amendment includes huge ad discounts for candidates.

Rappler, however, reserves the right to fact check these advertisements, especially as the law also emphasizes the “observance of truth in advertising.”

Below are our guidelines on political ads:

• A specific section on Rappler is dedicated for paid political advertisements that are directly negotiated with the company. The contents found in this section are produced and created for election candidates and political parties, and are fully paid for by the candidates or their supporters. 

• The journalists and editorial staff of Rappler are not involved in the creation, vetting, or publication of the content in this section or any form of political advertisement. In no instance will the content in political ads be used in Rappler’s stories. In case the ad is relevant to a story, it will be properly disclosed or labeled.

• Some of Rappler’s Production team, which acts as a service unit for all of Rappler during elections, will continue to do projects with Sales, as has been the case in previous instances. The Production team servicing Sales will not be involved in any editorial decision related to election content. 

• All paid political advertisements are clearly marked as advertisements wherever they appear on Rappler, including its social media properties. 

• Rappler ensures that the programmatic political ads served to its readers on the site by third party contractors follow the standards of truth in advertising.

• Campaigns for clean elections, voter registration, youth vote, and the like that are  funded by corporations, foundations, universities, NGOs, and other interest groups may also take the form of advertisements or partnerships with Rappler.  

• Election-related surveys could also be funded in partnership with Rappler. 

Advertisers interested in sponsor-generated content can learn more by emailing sales@rappler.com. – Rappler.com