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Reuters

Reuters

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Technology

Exclusive-Fake accounts drove praise of Duterte and now target Philippine election

Reuters
Summary
Nutrition label

73% Informative

Fake social media accounts sprang to the defence of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte after he was sent to the International Criminal Court to face charges over his bloody drug war.

Around a third of accounts discussing the arrest on the platform X were fake, according to research shared with Reuters by a tech firm that termed it a "deliberate, organized" campaign.

Such aggressive proliferation of disinformation has now begun shaping discourse around the Southeast Asian nation's mid-term elections next month .

Of a sample of 3,033 profiles discussing an administration-backed coalition, the firm determined about 45% were fake.

The profiles were "strategically connected to amplify each other's content", creating the "illusion of broad public support or opposition" Many fake profiles interacted with real accounts, allowing them to "blend seamlessly into discussions".

VR Score

84

Informative language

89

Neutral language

44

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

64

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

no external sources

Source diversity

no sources

Affiliate links

no affiliate links

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