An old online post currently circulating on Facebook claiming that an Austrian firm has declared President Rodrigo Duterte as the “world’s best president” is fabricated.
Published March 23 by the Facebook page 911 Philippines Supporters, the fake online post carried the headline, “Philippines Rodrigo Duterte Adjudged World’s Best President,” and a screencap of a story put out two days earlier by the now-defunct website city-herald.com.
Both claimed a firm called STATISTICA Inc. ranked world leaders by their “countries’ corruption index, economic performance, reliance on foreign aid and the current approval rate.” Duterte placed first; others in the top 10 included China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
No legitimate media outfit has reported on any such “research” or ranking results.
STATISTICA Inc., which the posts claim to be Austrian, also does not appear in the list of companies registered under Austria’s Official Business Register, according to the European Union’s e-Justice Portal.
In October, a different Facebook page published a post carrying the same tune, claiming the United Nations Economic and Social Council hailed Duterte as the “world’s best president” — another report VERA Files found to be false.
911 Philippines Supporters and city-herald.com‘s fake report was detected by Facebook once again making the rounds on social media this October, amid issues currently hounding the Duterte administration, including speculations on the president’s health, a rice crisis, and public anger over rising prices of commodities.
The fabricated report has been shared by over 1,200 people.
911 Philippines Supporters was created in August 2016.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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