Blog News Viral Online (newsviralonlineph.blogspot.com) published on May 4 a misleading report claiming the majority of Filipinos see President Rodrigo Duterte as the country’s “best president.” It bore the headline: “WOW! PANGULONG DUTERTE NAKAKAKUHA NG 94.03% POSITIVE RATING SA PINAKA MAGALING NA PRESIDENTE (Wow! President Duterte got 94.03% positive rating as best president)!”
The post’s content, a video uploaded May 1 by YouTube channel Showbiz Fanaticz, makes no such claim, however.
The video instead reported that actress Aiai de las Alas supposedly said in her Instagram account she was proud to be part of the “94.03 percent of Filipinos” who believe the chief executive can solve the current crisis, after answering a poll on a Facebook page.
No such post can be seen in the actress’ Instagram feed. News Viral Online also did not disclose the name of the supposed FB page.
A cursory search shows the 94.03 percent figure could have been drawn from the results of a poll conducted by consultancy firm EON Group and research firm Tangere, released April 17. Of 5,425 participants, 5,101 or 94.03% voted “Yes” in a question asking whether or not they trust Duterte amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The videos emerged after several news organizations picked up the survey almost two weeks after results were released.
News Viral Online’s misleading post could have reached over 4.4 million people, according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle. It started publishing stories only last March.
This is not the blog’s first time publishing misleading posts. (SEE MORE: VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Netizens share MISLEADING story on PH securing seat on UN rights council and VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Story claiming Alegria is PH’s first oil field FALSE)
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
