News website Rappler deleted its Facebook presidential survey after netizens accused it of being engaged in propaganda moves, according to a statement from the camp of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
This came after Rappler issued an apology to angry netizens, explaining that the survey had to be taken down since it was not aligned with their objectives.
But even after taking it down, vloggers still chided the media outfit for its attempt to deceive the public into believing that independent presidential aspirant Leni Robredo is now getting the support of netizens.
“Your system can’t handle it, your program, Facebook and Rappler can’t handle it, even if they immediately dumped Leni with 100k or 150k to make BBM difficult. Epic fail,” said vlogger Maui Becker, also known as Princess Maui.
Meanwhile, vlogger Chika-Doro tagged the poll as a sabotage survey as he complained that he clicked the shocked emoji but his friends later told him that it was changed to heart, arousing suspicion that the auto-heart feature of the post was turned on.
“This survey done by Rappler is real sabotage. This is just a survey, we are being practiced to deceive, to deceive the vote of the Filipinos. Rappler is serious,” Doro said.
“It’s sad to think that this biased press, this biased media is fooling us again,” another vlogger, Kasangga Jay, also said.
Rappler asked Facebook users in an October 7 poll to respond with a specific emoji to indicate their preferred presidential bet. Its poll had the question: “Who is your presidential bet for the 2022 elections?”
An amused emoji is a vote for Senator Panfilo Lacson, a thumbs up sign for Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, a heart emoji for Robredo, a shocked emoji for Partido Federal ng Pilipinas standard-bearer Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., and a caring emoji for Senator Manny Pacquiao.
