After being criticized by human rights groups, President Rodrigo Duterte has allegedly earned the support of US President Donald Trump.
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Blogs such as newsmediaph.com and socialmediaph.info have picked up the story, which is now being shared to Facebook by fan pages “Duterte News,” “President Duterte News,” “Todayinmanila Ph,” and “Rodrigo Duterte ‘Disisais,’” earning hundreds of shares and thousands of reactions.
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But upon tracking the story to the original source, it turned out to have come from the fake news site Aljazeera-channel.com.
The fake story wanted to establish a close relationship between Trump and Duterte as the American leader allegedly assured Duterte that the Filipinos are counting on him and that human rights groups would simply point fingers without offering a solution.
Trump was quoted saying: “U.S. is fully behind you. Human rights groups didn’t elect you, Citizens did.”
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Trump’s remarks were said to have come after international human rights group Human Rights Watch criticized Duterte’s administration, saying that having Senator Leila De Lima arrested for drug charges as “politically motivated.”
However, there are no supporting reports about Trump particularly extending America’s support to Duterte where human rights issues problems concerned using the statement that was quoted in the article by Aljazeera-channel.com.
During the phone call between Duterte and Trump last December, Duterte did say that Trump praised his war on drugs, adding that the American leader even “wished him well” and that the Philippines is doing it “the right way.”
Where human rights issues are concerned though, watchdog group Amnesty International blamed Trump, Duterte, and the presidents of Hungary and Turkey for the rise of divisive rhetoric that threatens human rights.
Aljzeera-channel.com is not entirely new to making up stories. It has been the fake news site behind hoaxes, such as the stories about De Lima threatening Duterte if she ever becomes PH’s next president, claiming to be asthmatic, and saying that Filipinos must be grateful to her. The site also published the fake news about Vice President Robredo allegedly giving the warning that she would strip naked if De Lima is not released after her two-day ultimatum.
If you don’t want to fall victim to fake news, make the effort to trace the sources of the news you see online and make sure it is not Aljazeera-channel.com or any other hoax sites, some of which can be found in Meme Buster’s first and second list of fake news and satire sites.
Sources: ( philstar.com , theguardian.com , cnnphilippines.com )
Be Informed. Beat the Trolls, Share the Truth!
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