Stock photo shows a woman on a laptop showing "fake news."
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MANILA, Philippines — The arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte has fueled a surge of false information on social media, with thousands of Filipino online users falling victim to fake statements, unverified reports and misleading content.
Many of the false claims monitored by The STAR involve quote cards with false statements attributed to prominent figures such as US President Donald Trump.
The US President, who is said to have a good relationship with Duterte, has not issued any statement on his arrest.
“Every day since Duterte’s arrest, we have fact checked misinformation and disinformation concerning it and the ICC (International Criminal Court). Overwhelmingly, the disinformation is pro-Duterte,” Celine Samson, head of the online verification team at VERA Files, told The STAR.
“There have been fake quotes going around Facebook making it appear that public figures like Vice Ganda and Donald Trump are defending the former president. There are at least three different versions of quotes being attributed to Trump, claiming that the US will protect Duterte, or that he will impose huge tariffs if the Marcos administration does not work to get Duterte released,” she added.
One quote card even featured Saul Goodman, a fictional character from popular American crime drama series Breaking Bad, presented as a law professor supposedly voicing his support for Duterte.
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