Fighting disinformation

#FactsFirstPH: Here’s a wrap of the biggest lies debunked in 2022

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

#FactsFirstPH: Here’s a wrap of the biggest lies debunked in 2022
Check out the fact checks by #FactsFirstPH partners debunking the biggest lies of 2022

MANILA, Philippines – From claims about the elections to issues related to government programs, the economy, and the pandemic, lies were everywhere in 2022. 

To help combat falsehoods spreading on social media, several newsrooms, civil society groups, business organizations, and research and legal groups banded together to form an anti-disinformation initiative dubbed #FactsFirstPH in January.

The coalition was recognized in an international fact-checking conference as most innovative and impactful.

We have collated some of the most repeated lies about pressing issues this year that were debunked by #FactsFirstPH partners, including ABKD Network, Altermidya, Baguio Chronicle, Daily Guardian, Davao Today, Interaksyon, Mindanao Gold Star, News5, OneNewsPH, PressOne, and Rappler, among others. (LIST: Organizations that are part of the #FactsFirstPH initiative)

As a reader and social media user,  you can support this initiative by sharing these fact checks or keeping this list in handy so you come equipped with the right information to debunk false claims.

Check out the fact checks debunking the biggest lies of 2022: 

Fact checks about the 2022 PH elections

This year’s presidential elections was a top issue that Filipinos cared about. Alongside this, the high-stakes elections stirred not only hopes and fears for the country but also a lot of false claims on social media. 

These included false claims about election results, fake endorsements that even included some international personalities, crowd estimates, and campaign propaganda. Here are some of them: 

Election results
Fake endorsements
Campaign propaganda

Fact checks about government programs

Lies about the government programs that are too good to be true did not stop spreading this year. 

Some false claims that were debunked by #FactsFirstPH partners zoomed into the false promises for our labor and economy, credit grabbing of infrastructure efforts and other government programs, changes in education curriculum and program, and the impact of efforts to improve security in the country.

Below is a list: 

Labor and economy
Infrastructure
Education
Justice and security

Fact checks about the Philippine economy 

The Philippines’ inflation reached a 14-year high in November 2022. Unfortunately, several of these claims touched on unpaid debt being paid, sovereign funds and other sources of funds like an alleged gold stash, inflation and alleged low inflation, and the impacts of investments. 

Income and revenue
Inflation and prices
Investments and debt

Fact checks about the pandemic 

It’s 2022 but claims about the pandemic are still rampant. In times like these, unverified reports and misleading posts online can spread as fast and as wide as the virus itself.

This year, many false claims about the pandemic talked about the false side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine deployment. 

Vaccine side effects and hesitancy
Political ties
COVID-19 origins

And some of the weirdest fact checks  

Even if some claims were obviously not true, these claims had to be debunked.

This year, some of the weirdest fact checks were about the alleged health benefits you can gain when using certain items, false explanations of weather phenomenon and monitoring, and conspiracy theories.

Health
History and conspiracy theories
Others

With the help of the other partners in the mesh layer, these fact checks were also promoted on several social media pages of our partners, and shared as videos, cartoons, translations to other local languages, and other executions to reach a wider audience across the country. 

If you spot other claims on social media, report them to https://factsfirst.ph/tipline.

And together, let’s put facts first this 2023. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!