Several Netizens were shocked and disappointed over the Rappler article baring list of celebrities who received payments from DDS propaganda machine.
In a Rappler article by Camille Elemia, a list of celebrities who were used by the DDS propaganda page Trending News Portal caught the shock of some Netizens and online personalities.
Kapamilya director Ted Boborol can’t say much but ‘never meet your heroes’ as he shared Maria Ressa’s tweet regarding the article.
Never meet your heroes https://t.co/nDUWF94Arq
— Theodore Boborol (@TheodoreBoborol) February 27, 2021
According to the article, which they based from verified legal documents, celebrities like Paulo Avelino, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Sam Pinto, and Bugoy Carino were all paid to promote fake articles from the TNP site, which is owned by Twinmark Media Enterprise, the entity banned by facebook for its coordinated inauthentic behavior.
Twinmark’s strategy is to pay actors and social media influencers and also celebrity fan pages to share content from their website (which mostly are fake news and disinformation content).
Aside from the obvious Mocha Uson page who got paid millions to spread fake news and misinformation, Netizens were more shocked at the others on the list.
Paulo Avelino‘s verified facebook page for example is said to have received a total of 2.2 million from 2017 to 2018, which went to a certain Michael Balando. Although the page identified was Paulo’s verified facebook page, his management team denied knowing any deal with Twinmark, but they admit to having known and work with Balando.
Another celebrity mentioned was Jasmine Curtis-Smith. Based on the article, the actress’ received at least 405 thousand in 2017 for sharing content from TNP. Jasmine’s management admitted to having a marketing deal with Twinmark, but only for health-related content.
However, those contents shared on her page during that time were not health-related, but DDS propaganda.
Model Sam Pinto was also mentioned, who received 1.9 million in 2017 and 2018, and Bugoy Carino who was paid at least 2.2 million pesos.
Other celebrities and influencers mentioned were Moymoy Palaboy, Senyora Santibanez, DJ Chaha, Mich Ligayu of JaMich, and Yexel Sebastian.
Here are reactions from the Netizens regarding the article.
“Trooh bah??? Pugad ng trolls ang account ni Paulo Avelino???? Eww” @altabscbn
Trooh bah??? Pugad ng trolls ang account ni Paulo Avelino???? Eww
— AltABSCBN (@AltABSCBN) February 27, 2021
“Hindi ako nagulat na kasama si Jasmin Curtis-Smith sa listahan ng mga artistang bayaran. Tandaan niyo, ardent BBM supporter ang jowa niyang si Jeff Ortega ‘di ba?” @supernegatrona
https://twitter.com/supernegatrona/status/1365561144736247809
“Maaring wala siyang alam sa fake content na ipinamudmod gamit ang account niya ngunit kung ikaw ay isang sikat na artista, papayag ka na lang ba basta-basta na gamitin ang socmed account mo na wala ka man lang kaide-ideya? Hindi ba sobrang kapabayaan naman na iyon?” @supernegatrona added.
Maaring wala siyang alam sa fake content na ipinamudmod gamit ang account niya ngunit kung ikaw ay isang sikat na artista, papayag ka na lang ba basta-basta na gamitin ang socmed account mo na wala ka man lang kaide-ideya? Hindi ba sobrang kapabayaan naman na iyon?
— supernegatrona AKA pink 5 (@supernegatrona) February 27, 2021
“DJ Chacha aint DDS for sure pero yung page niya DDS hmmm sino kaya yung admin non? Ewan ko kay Jasmine Curtis tsaka Sam Pinto. Kay Paolo Avelino feel ko DDS siya tapos si Mich ng Jamich tsaka yung Yexel DDS yan e. Bugoy at Laure feel ko DDS.” @mariatwitsta
DJ Chacha aint DDS for sure pero yung page niya DDS hmmm sino kaya yung admin non? Ewan ko kay Jasmine Curtis tsaka Sam Pinto. Kay Paolo Avelino feel ko DDS siya tapos si Mich ng Jamich tsaka yung Yexel DDS yan e. Bugoy at Laure feel ko DDS.
— Maria (@Mariatwitsta) February 27, 2021
“Please also note that Vidanes Management also handles Robin Padilla, a staunch Duterte supporter. Kahit saan niyo pa tingnan, they profited over lies and misinformation!” @harmonyravens
Please also note that Vidanes Management also handles Robin Padilla, a staunch Duterte supporter.
Kahit saan niyo pa tingnan, they profitted over lies and misinformation!
— Harmony (@harmonyravens) February 27, 2021
“i’m so disappointed” @2ne7swift
im so disappointed
— jex ✨ MidnighTS (@2ne7swift) February 27, 2021
