A screenshot of a tweet that shows Reuters news agency calling out Vice President Leni Robredo for lying is making the rounds on Facebook. This two-year-old tweet is fabricated.
It first emerged in October 2019 but was reuploaded by a netizen a few days after Robredo called former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. a “liar” in an interview with talk show host Boy Abunda aired last January 26.
The fake quote that was revived on Jan. 30 alleged that Reuters released the following statement on Oct. 29, 2019 in response to Robredo’s claim she was misquoted in its story on President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war: “We didn’t do fake news on your interview with us. We reported it as is, as you said it. You lie when you say we have misconstrued or mistranslated your statements in that interview. And, Madam, the word ‘STOP’ is SYNONYMOUS with ‘NOT TO CONTINUE.’”
The made-up quote was published along with a legitimate statement issued by the international wire agency to address Robredo’s clarification that she wants to tweak – not halt – the government’s war against illegal drugs.
“Reuters fairly and accurately represented the statements of Philippine vice president Leni Robredo, and we stand by our story published on 23 October,” the wire agency said in October 2019.
The netizen who fabricated the quote used a screenshot of the original quote card published in the official FB page of News5 and added the fake quote above the original Reuter statement.
Sought for comment last week, Jamie Austin, Reuters’ Global Head of Communications, said in an email to VERA Files Fact Check he does “not know where [the made-up statement] came from.”
At least eight other FB pages and groups shared the netizen’s post, according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle. The post has since garnered more than 1,200 reactions, 96 comments and 426 shares.
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