A post circulating on Facebook is erroneously claiming the Guinness World Records (GWR) deleted the record for “greatest robbery of a government” — held by the late ousted President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. — due to insufficient proof.
The false graphic appeared on April 1 and included the text: “GUINNESS OFFICIALLY DELETES TITLE ‘GREATEST ROBBERY OF A GOVERNMENT’ FOR LACK OF EVIDENCE.”
In their caption, the inaccurate posts claimed that GWR apologized to Filipinos after they found “no substantial evidence to back up such a claim.” A portion of the caption read: “According to the representative and head of publishing and brand communications of Guinness, they find all the documents and proofs very malicious.”
A reader requested VERA Files Fact Check to verify this claim.
GWR never made such a statement. Satirical FB page Cebu Dairy News published the original claim on April Fools’ Day. Some netizens requested the page owner to take down the post since not all people knew it was satire.
Other FB pages republished the satirical content blurring out Cebu Dairy News’ identifications, leading netizens to believe the post was true.
In early March, GWR made headlines after Marcos’ record for “greatest robbery of a government” disappeared from the Guinness website. Here is an archived copy.
In an email reply to VERA Files Fact Check, GWR refuted the claim, acknowledging that in light of the times, it took seriously its responsibility to “be a source of reliable, accurate information.”
And while not disputing the record as a historical fact, GWR clarified its details, including whether it still stands, is being reviewed to verify if it is updated and accurate.
“Any record which has not been recently researched and verified by independent sources will be re-examined to ensure it is up-to-date, accurate, and compatible with our values and the values of the audiences we serve.”
The post emerged after GWR went viral for debunking a claim made by a pro-Uniteam FB page that said presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. holds the record for having the longest motorcade in the country.
FB pages Negros Occidental (created on Sept. 7, 2021) and News Cebu (Sept. 8, 2021) posted false post and collectively garnered more than 1,550 reactions, 460 comments and 2,100 shares. It was also posted by at least 17 other FB groups, pages and netizens according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)