The blog thinking-pinas.blogspot.com published June 13 a fake news story claiming Vice President Leni Robredo “boasted” she would go to war with China if she were the president.
The fake report used as its content a pirated 11-minute clip of a 29-minute June 11 CNN Philippines newscast where Robredo spoke about China’s encroachment on Philippine territory. But she made no mention of going to war, rendering untrue the headline “PINAKA MAINIT NA BALITA !LENI NAGYABANG KUNG SYA LANG DAW PANGUL0 GINYERA NA NYA ANG CHLNA! PANOORIN (Breaking news! Leni brags that if she were the president, she would have already gone to war with China! Watch).”
The vice president, shown speaking at a forum about the West Philippine Sea that day, was actually calling for a peaceful protest against China’s actions in the disputed waters.
“Shouldn’t this be the time for us to peacefully protest any effort to limit or control movement in international waters?” said Robredo, expressing concern over reports of the Chinese Coast Guard taking away the catch of Filipino fishermen in Panatag Shoal.
Thinking-pinas.blogspot.com’s fabricated story, which could have reached over 630,000 people, was published two days after Robredo spoke at the forum. Traffic to the story was largely generated for social media by the pages President Rody Duterte Facebook Army and Solid Duterte-Marcos Supporters.
The blog has been publishing stories since May 22; Youtube channel President Duterte News, which uploaded the CNN clip, since January 2017.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
