A joke post about the sprawling campus of the state-run University of the Philippines (UP) purportedly being converted into the world’s biggest shopping mall was repeatedly shared on Facebook — and misled some social media users. A university official told AFP the claim is untrue and “runs counter to UP’s legal mandate”.
“U.P. Diliman Campus To Be Converted To The World’s Biggest Mall!” reads a screenshot shared on Facebook on May 13.
It features an image of a building in UP’s main campus in Diliman in the country’s capital region — overlaid with the text “Great Mall of the Philippines”.
The post’s Tagalog-language caption translates as: “Boom.. It’s now UP Mall..”
The post circulated online after UP student leaders called for a walk out in protest of the 2022 Philippine presidential election results.
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.