Imposter govt website spreads fabricated poll ahead of Philippine midterm vote
"Survey result for 2025 gubernatorial race on Bukidnon, Philippines," reads the title of a graphic shared on Instagram on February 19, 2025.
It appears to show Azucena Huervas, currently the mayor of the province's Valencia city, ahead of four rival candidates including incumbent Governor Rogelio Roque.
"Good evening Bukidnon, this is a post from Radyo Pilipinas, an official survey," the Visayan-language caption to the graphic says, referring to the state-run radio station (archived link).
The post links to website claiming to be Radyo Pilipinas News.
Image
Screenshot of false Instagram post captured on February 24, 2025
Similar posts surfaced on Facebook as campaigning kicked off for the archipelago's Senate and candidates for so-called party-list seats.
Electioneering will kick into higher gear in March when candidates for House seats and thousands of local positions launch their bids for office (archived link).
'Deceitful article'
Radyo Pilipinas, however, has disowned the circulating graphic and branded the supposed survey results as "fake" in a statement on Facebook on February 14 (archived link).
"A deceitful article is spreading on Facebook, pretending to be from Radyo Pilipinas," the statement reads. "Do not be duped -- always verify information from official sources."
The genuine URL of Radyo Pilipinas is radyopilipinas.ph but its imposter site is hosted on a .com page (archived link).
The state radio also changed its logo in December 2024 but the bogus site still features the old one (archived link).
Image
Screenshot comparison of the imposter site (L) and the official Radyo Pilipinas page
The graphic also contains numerous errors, for example misspelling the nickname of Governor Roque "Oneil" as "Oniel" -- and his party "Partido Federal ng Pilipinas" as "Partido Rederal ng Pilipinas" (archived link).
Azucena Huervas, who the fabricated poll claims is leading the race, separately denounced the circulating posts.
"We do not condone misinformation of any kind," reads a on her official Facebook page
AFP has previously debunked another fake survey that misused the name of local polling organisation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AFP
7 hours ago
- AFP
Misleading posts claim Malaysian government 'removed gas subsidies for all businesses'
"The government has lost its mind. Gas subsidies for businesses have been removed. Small business owners feel like they cannot raise prices again after multiple cost increases," reads a Malay-language Facebook post on June 2, 2025. Image Screen shot of the false post taken on June 3, 2025 The claims surfaced after the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) announced a five-month operation beginning May 1 to curb the use of subsidised liquified petroleum gas (LPG) by the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as to crack down on illegal decanting activities (archived link). It also said businesses will no longer be allowed to use subsidised cooking gas and will need to switch to commercial gas cylinders, which cost three times the price of household cylinders (archived link). The launch of the operation prompted lawmakers to claim it would cause small businesses to increase prices for consumers, with one opposition lawmaker calling it "robbery" by the government. Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Facebook, and in a group with more than 35,000 members. Users left comments indicating they were misled, with one saying: "The current government is not helping people but adding to the burden." Another said: "The government has gone too far." However, the operation does not target small businesses. No abolishment of subsidies KDPN minister Armizan Mohd Ali refuted the misleading claim in a statement released via state news agency Bernama on June 3, saying the main purpose of the operation was to combat illegal decanting activities, smuggling of LPG and the use of subsidised gas by large and medium-scale industries (archived link). "Through this operation, there are no new policies and regulations, let alone cuts and abolishment of LPG subsidies as claimed by certain parties," the statement said. Instead, small businesses using less than three cylinders of the subsidised gas a day are allowed to keep using the cheaper product, while larger commercial operations using more than three at any one time would require a permit and cannot purchase subsidised gas, the minister said. The Communications Ministry's Department of Information issued a similar clarification on Facebook on May 31 (archived link). Penang Hawkers Association chairman Ooi Thean Huat told AFP that small businesses in the northern state typically only need up to three gas cylinders a day, allowing them to use the subsidised 12kg cylinders, which are sold for 26 ringgit ($6 USD). However, Ooi noted that even switching to the unsubsidised cylinders would not lead to price hikes for customers. "If we use the non-subsidised cylinders, two a day should be enough. There will be no changes to the prices of food because you do get more gas with the commercial cylinders," he said.
AFP
3 days ago
- AFP
Fake Trump post on Musk's drug use spreads amid blowup
"Elon Musk or 'Mediocre Musk' is constantly high on ketamine. Always making promises he can't keep. NOT TO BE TRUSTED! He wants to go to Mars, how about you go back to Africa," reads the alleged post from Trump, timestamped to June 5, 2025 at 6:07 pm . Image Screenshot from X taken June 6, 2025 The image rocketed across platforms including X, Facebook, Instagram and Threads as the US leader and world's richest man traded barbs in what began as a dispute over the "big, beautiful" spending bill before Congress. The pair hurled insults at each other online after Trump expressed disappointment in his top donor's criticism of the legislation, with Trump threatening to strip Musk of his huge government contracts and Musk claiming credit for the Republican's 2024 election victory. At one point, Musk alleged that the president was referenced in government documents on the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial for sex crimes. The fallout came days after the New York Times reported that Musk used so much of while on the 2024 campaign trail that he developed bladder problems -- a charge Musk has denied. But a review of live and archived versions of Trump's Truth Social feed reveals he did not invoke ketamine in his attacks on Musk. "That is fake," the White House said of the purported screenshot circulating online, in a June 6, 2025 email to AFP. The president did not post during the 6 pm (2200 GMT) hour Two hours earlier, he championed his bill and wrote: "I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago" (archived here). His next post, after 10:30 pm (0230 GMT), shared a link to a Newsmax article about his approval ratings (archived here). Keyword searches returned no credible news articles referencing the alleged post. AFP has debunked several fake osts erroneously attributed to Trump. Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation about US politics here.
France 24
3 days ago
- France 24
Blame social media? Murder in French Riviera town follows online hate speech
In France, outrage over the 53-year old who posted five times to Facebook before and after killing his Tunisian neighbor and who also targeted two Kurdish asylum seekers. Posts included a call to 'go get them wherever they are' and to vote for Marine Le Pen's National Rally. It was enough for it be treated as a terror case and for the conservative right interior minister to make the trip to the French Riviera town of Puget-sur-Argens. How much of the blame for the real-life attack goes to the virtual world? As US tech platforms downsize fact checking and content moderation on their site, the European Union finds itself in a bind. Its Digital Services Act needs enforcement and reinforcement, say anti-racism advocates. But it's also locked in wide-ranging trade negotiations with a United States whose vice-president clearly states that Europe's biggest challenge is 'the threat within' of assault on free speech and censorship of Maga-world ideas. Does Europe have what it takes to define and defend the free exchange of ideas while preventing the phones in our pockets from becoming bullhorns for hate?
