Jessica Soho opens up about bullying, body-shaming on social media

Jessica Soho hosts a television program that enjoys immense popularity online—the weekly "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho."

Unlike her show, however, the award-winning broadcast journalist herself does not have her own social media accounts.

In the pilot episode of "The Howie Severino Podcast," Jessica said she has a "traumatic experience" with social media.

"Remember when they launched the iPad and then some wise guy tweeted, 'Oh, the iPad, when Jessica Soho holds the iPad, it looks like the iPhone.' So you know, I was body-shamed for that," she said in a mix of English and Filipino.

"I said, 'What is this?' I don't know how to navigate social media at all. I don't understand why people are so brazen and so mean. It's because of this anonymity," she added.

Jessica said she feels it is her duty to check feedback from viewers, so she occasionally visits the KMJS Facebook page to read the comments. Her staff, however, discourages her from the practice.

Aside from the bullying that occurs in online platforms, the veteran journalist said the nature of social media also makes it easier for people to get fooled by fake news.

"People can no longer distinguish between what is news and what is fake because everything has been mashed up and mixed in peoples' timelines and status updates," she said.

Jessica said she would tell people to go directly to news websites instead of relying on what comes out on their social media newsfeeds.

"These are social media accounts that you use to post what you eat, places where you go, people you meet. Why would you mix in serious news content?" she said.

"I cannot wrap my head around that thing which is I think probably where Facebook troubles lie now." —MGP, GMA News