Fake news alert: Rights group urges Filipino youth to join armed communist NPA group
Digitally manipulated image, shared on Facebook, totally alters message
A fake image going around on Facebook has subjected a human rights group in the Philippine to verbal attacks — and potentially exposing them to become justified "soft" targets for the police and the military.
The news agency AFP's Manila bureau has called out the fake image on Monday, May 6, 2019.
AFP's "Fact Check" site reported that the fake photo has been "shared hundreds of times" in a Facebook post.
The fake image shows a banner from the human rights group Karapatan urging Filipino youth to "join" an armed communist rebel group.
In the photo, the text on the banner translates to English as: “Youths should go to the mountains — and join the NPA.”
The communist party and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), had been waging one of Asia's longest Maoist insurgencies.
"Kill them all!", states one of the dozens of comments to the fake post. "Mga salot sa lipunan (They are the dregs of society)," commented another.
An original photo, posted on Facebook on May 26, 2017, displayed a banner with an anti-fascist message. The rights campaign group has previously been critical of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
The fake photo was shared in a Facebook post on April 22, 2019, which drew many angry comments.
"Kill them all!", states one of the dozens of comments to the fake post. "Mga salot sa lipunan (They are the dregs of society)," commented another.
It was not immediately clear how many times the picture was shared, or whether a move was initiated for Facebook to take it down.
