Old television news reports on teenagers being forced into a “white van” have resurfaced on social media after news reports of nine missing teenagers in Pasay City came out in late November. Shared without context, these reports have led people to believe the events are recent and happening in various cities in the country.
On Nov. 30, a netizen posted a cellphone screen recording of a TV Patrol news segment first aired in December 2014, or five years ago. She captioned it with:
“Sheeeeett nakakatakot na talaga (Sh*t, it’s really scary)!!”
The five-year-old report was on the kidnap attempt on five students by men riding in a white van in Quiapo, Manila.
The screen recording currently circulating on the Web is a copy of the TV Patrol news report reuploaded by Facebook (FB) page Ikwento mo kay Delio, that was shared in a private, FB Messenger group chat.
While there are no details on when the copied news footage was shared privately, a search on the Ikwento mo kay Delio FB page reveals that the republished video was also posted in 2014, just a day after TV Patrol aired its news report.
While the netizen did not indicate in her caption that the screen recording she shared was recent, comments in her post indicate people were fooled.
One of the most relevant comments in the almost 3,600 remarks on the post pointed out it was an old footage and asked her not to terrify people. Facebook defines most relevant comments as those from the account owner’s friends or those that are “most engaging.”
The Philippine National Police warned on Dec. 3 that those spreading false information on “white vans” abducting teenagers are in violation of the Cybercrime Prevention law. The police also appealed to netizens to “avoid sharing or forwarding these kinds of posts so as not to cause undue public alarm and panic.”
The original TV Patrol footage and the one uploaded on Ikwento mo kay Delio have been re-shared since Nov. 30.