Several Facebook pages and accounts have been spreading in a templated post last week a misleading story that claims 75 percent of Filipinos believe in the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The newzspreader.info post, which is no longer accessible, bore the headline: “BREAKING NEWS: 75% of Pinoys (Filipinos) believes (sic), Philippines is in the right direction with President Duterte! PANOORIN (WATCH)”.
It was shared by a total of 12 Facebook pages and two personal users in eight public groups on Nov. 23 and 24 with the same exact caption:
“WOW! NGAH-NGAH ANG MGA DILAWAN NITO 75% ANG NANINIWALA KY TATAY DIGONG (THE YELLOWS WILL BE SHOCKED 75% BELIEVE IN FATHER DUTERTE). PANOORIN (WATCH)
Anong masasabi ninyo dito mga ka DDS (What can you say about this fellow DDS)? Panoorin ang buong detalye (Watch all the details). Ikalat po natin ito ng makapanood ang ibang kababayan natin (Please spread this video so our fellow Filipinos can watch).
#WATCH/#ShareNatin (#LetsShare)???????”
Facebook page IDOL KO C DU30 topped the list with the most interactions.
Both the headline of the story and the caption used in the Facebook posts are misleading as they twisted the results of a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The SWS survey released on Oct. 25, a month before the online posts made the rounds on social media, did not ask respondents whether or not they believed in Duterte or his leadership. Rather, it asked: “In general, with the way things are going in the country, in your opinion, is our country going in the right or wrong direction?”
About 75 percent of the SWS respondents said the country is in the right direction, while 22 percent said otherwise. Three percent refused to answer.
The Facebook posts failed to mention that the SWS survey only sampled adult Filipinos, or those 18 years old and above.
The misleading Newzspreader.info post could have collectively reached over 1.4 million internet users.
Newzspreader.info was created Nov. 16.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
