Hours before former President Rodrigo Duterte’s family and lawyers publicly claimed his arrest a “kidnapping,” around 200 seemingly unconnected Facebook accounts and pages had already posted identical text that accused law enforcers of abducting Duterte to the International Criminal Court.
Philstar.com‘s monitoring detected at least 200 different Facebook accounts and pages that publicly posted an identical message that frames any potential arrest of Duterte — specifically by law enforcers acting on the arrest warrant of the ICC — as “kidnapping” and “illegal detention.” Most were posted within the 12-hour window between Duterte’s morning arrest on Tuesday, March 11, and his late-night flight to The Hague, while a number were posted days before and after.
The coordinated message blitz bears signs of what disinformation researchers call “copypasta” – identical text copied and pasted across the internet by individuals, usually at the same time.
Most of the posts were shared by profiles that appeared authentic, featuring years of posting history, genuine photos and consistent interaction with non-political content, based on Philstar.com‘s analysis of the roughly 200 Facebook posts.
The message reads as follows:
Remember that Philippines is not an ICC member country, so any arrest warrant issued by that foreign court is null and void. Only Filipino courts can issue an arrest warrant against Duterte.
Any Filipino police officer who implements the arrest warrant will be guilty of kidnapping and illegal detention.
ICC, as a foreign court, has no jurisdiction / authority over (Philippine flag emoji). Constitution only rests judicial power in the (Philippine flag emoji) Supreme Court and (Philippine flag emoji) regional trial courts.
“For a while now, the Philippine disinformation scene has been advancing to a gray area where it’s almost impossible to tell whether content comes from fake players or not,” said Regine Cabato, a Filipino journalist covering disinformation and influence operations in the Philippines.
“I have no doubt that some of these accounts are real people. I also have no doubt that some of them are manufactured,” Cabato told Philstar.com.
‘Kidnapping’ claim echoed by Duterte family
The “kidnapping” narrative that dominated Facebook soon appeared in official statements from Duterte’s family and legal team.
Read the full story on Philstar.com.
