Healthnation-asia.com imitates the CNN Philippines website and falsely claims the endorsement of medical content creator Dr. Alvin Francisco for the product MaxiFlex
Claim: Medical content creator Dr. Alvin Francisco, also known as Doc Alvin on social media, endorses MaxiFlex, a product that claims to treat joint problems.
Why we fact-checked this: The claim was sent to Rappler through email for fact-checking. The claim is based on an article supposedly published on the CNN Philippines website on February 2, showing an alleged interview of Francisco conducted by television host Boy Abunda.
The article is titled: “BREAKING NEWS! Professor Alvin Francisco discovered a solution to permanently eliminate joint and back pain in just two weeks!”
Francisco is a radiology resident known for making health-related videos online. As of writing, he has 4 million followers on Facebook, 2.1 million on TikTok, 895,000 on YouTube, and 199,000 on Instagram.
The facts: Francisco had earlier debunked the supposed article in a post on his official Facebook page on October 3, 2023, saying: “Babala: fake news ito. Wala nga akong lunas sa kirot na iniwan ng jowa, sa kirot ng arthritis pa kaya.” (Beware: this is fake news. I have no cure for the pain left by a partner, let alone the pain of arthritis.)
Fake website: The article in question was not published on CNN Philippines’ official website but on healthnation-asia.com. The page merely shows the logo of CNN Philippines to mimic...
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