By MARK REY MONTEJO
Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna slammed Polish influencer and content creator Project Nightfall (Agon Hare) after posting “fake information” about what happened to young Filipino chesser Bince Rafael Operiano.
In a lengthy post on Facebook Tuesday, Jan. 7, Frayna explained what really occurred and refuted each statement of Nightfall, who has 17 million followers, noting it was exaggerated and it took place two years ago in Bangkok, Thailand.
“Project Nightfall and other ‘news agencies’ must be held accountable for spreading fake news on the internet.
They dramatize, exaggerate, and fabricate lies to make their news ‘more appealing’ to the people,” wrote Frayna.
“It is great to celebrate the kid’s success, but there is no need to add lies in their posts just to make it viral,” she added.
The post by Nightfall Monday Jan. 6, gained 140 thousands reactions, more than 7k comments and 21k shares on Facebook.
Nightfall wrote on his post that Operiano came alone – no teammates nor coach – at the Bangkok Airport where the latter eventually stayed and slept on benches for three nights.
Frayna denied this, saying Operiano arrived on Thai soil with other age-group champions to banner the Nationals in the Eastern Asia Tournament along with their coaches.
She also stressed that the whole contingent was supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) during the trip and they have gone directly to their hotel according to Frayna.
“Yes, his father followed him later in Bangkok to support his child, he paid for his own ticket/solicited funds from good meaningful people to be with his child. This one is correct,” she continued.
“But let me clarify as well that there was no truth that the kid slept for 3 nights in airport benches because again when the Phil Team arrived they went straight to their respective hotel which was actually a 4 star hotel,” she added.
Frayna hopes that Nightfall rectifies his social media post and urges the public, especially the local influencers, to fact-check the information before resharing or reposting it.
“You are a page with MILLIONS of followers and due diligence must always be practiced before posting anything even if you claim that your intentions are good,” she concluded.
“I just want to correct this one-sided post. Happy new year to all.”
