Fact check: Tycoon Enrique Razon not arrested after ‘recent interview’
MANILA, Philippines — A fabricated news item was posted on a Facebook page, claiming that ports and casino tycoon Enrique Razon was arrested after his “recent interview.”
The fake news item, supposedly posted by Facebook page PSN, featured the interface of Pilipino Star Ngayon's website with a lead photo featuring a stock image of a man in a black jacket being handcuffed by law enforcement officers wearing neon vests. The lead photo also featured an image of Razon.
It was packaged as "Breaking News" and was headlined "Enrique Razon was arrested after his recent interview.”
It was also boosted as a sponsored post with link preview indicating "psn.news."
CLAIM: Razon was arrested after a “recent interview.”
RATING: This is false and fake.
Facts
The fake news item did not specify the "recent interview" it is referring to but Razon's most recent interview available online was an interview by broadcaster Anthony Taberna on his "Ka Tunying" YouTube channel. This was uploaded on Dec. 19, 2023.
The tycoon is also not involved in any criminal cases nor has any warrant of arrest issued by any court in the Philippines which could lead to his arrest.
According to Forbes, Razon ranks as the third wealthiest individual in the Philippines, boasting a net worth of $8.1 billion (P473,149,350,000).
PSN.News, on the other hand, redirects to a blog dedicated to news updates concerning the PlayStation home video game console.
Why we fact-checked this
The page that uploaded the fabricated news item carries the name “PSN” which is similar to the abbreviation of Philstar.com’s Filipino-language news arm, Pilipino Star Ngayon. It also imitated the layout of PSN's website that could be mistaken by readers as the official news site of PSN.
The sponsored post can no longer be accessed by Philstar.com. However, a cursory check on the Facebook page showed that it has 1,000 followers and 1,000 likes.
It also had five posts with some in Vietnamese language.
The official url of PSN is https://www.philstar.com/pilipino-star-ngayon, while its official Facebook page and X account can be viewed here:
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