A Facebook (FB) post claimed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk pledged $50 million to the legal fund of former president Rodrigo Duterte. This is fake.
Readers sent requests through VERA Files’ Messenger Misinformation Tipline to verify an April 5 post with the quote card which read:
“Elon Musk ‘Deeply Moved’ by Outpouring of Love from Duterte Supporters, Pledges $50M for Legal Defense Fund for FPRRD”
No such pledge was made by Musk on his official social media accounts. The post’s caption also contained the hashtag #FakeNewsToTanga (This is fake news, idiot).
Vice President Sara Duterte said on April 4 that the family will not accept donations for expenses related to her father’s detention at The Hague in The Netherlands. The former president’s children — Sara, Veronica and Davao City 1st district Representative Paulo—and common-law wife Cielito ‘Honeylet’ Avenceña have visited him at The Hague.
“Ang arrangement [naming pamilya] ay KKB or kanya-kanyang bayad, hindi namin napag-uusapan, hindi rin kami naghihingian ng pera, napag-usapan namin na hindi tumanggap ng donasyon at hindi rin humingi ng tulong,” said the Vice President.
([Our family’s] arrangement is to cover our own individual expenses, we do not discuss (finances), nor are we requesting for money. We agreed not to accept donations or assistance.)
The post is one of many that spread in the aftermath of Duterte’s arrest last March 11. The former president was arrested and detained under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Police Organization for the charge of crimes against humanity in keeping with the International Criminal Court’s investigation into his administration’s bloody war on drugs.
The fake post was published by FB account Maureen Love Dela Rosa (created June 19, 2016) and has since garnered over 2,500 reactions, 308 comments and 1,600 shares. The quote card has since been reposted by other FB users, as well as on TikTok and Instagram.
