IN RECENT days, growing concern has spread across parts of the Philippines, particularly in the Davao Region, following the confirmed local transmission of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), an infectious disease characterized by painful rashes, swollen lymph nodes, fever, and other symptoms.
The Department of Health in Davao Region (DOH-Davao) has so far recorded eight confirmed cases, six of which are from Davao City. These figures corresponded to the earlier reports from the Davao City Health Office, raising public alarm and sparking conversations both online and offline.
Although mpox remains a global public health concern, the DOH central office assures the public that the current situation involves low-level transmission with only occasional outbreaks.
According to Dr. David A. Mendoza, assistant regional director of DOH-Davao, there is no cause for panic — face masks are not required, and a lockdown is not necessary.
Yet, amid the ongoing health situation, a different kind of threat is spreading rapidly: misinformation and disinformation. And this, too, carries serious consequences.
Resurfacing posts
As mpox cases emerged in Davao City, an unexpected wave of confusion hit social media after old posts related to the Covid-19 pandemic began resurfacing on the newsfeeds of unsuspecting netizens — many of whom mistakenly believed these were recent updates.
To provide context, Covid-19, or Coronavirus Disease, is an infectious illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While most individuals infected experience mild to moderate respiratory symptoms and recover without special treatment, others may develop severe complications requiring hospitalization.
Globally, the virus led to widespread lockdowns for nearly two years, as effective vaccines were not immediately available. In the Philippines, the pandemic had a devastating toll: according to 2023 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), a total of 694,821 Filipinos died from Covid-19 — an average of 1,904 deaths per day.
Vaccination efforts ramped up in early 2021, and by 2022, the country began achieving herd immunity. Restrictions gradually eased, and life slowly returned to normal.
However, in 2025, confusion erupted when a June 4, 2021 post from SunStar Davao suddenly resurfaced online. The post read: “DAVAO CITY UNDER MECQ FROM JUNE 5-20”, leading some users to mistakenly interpret it as breaking news.
While some netizens recognized the post’s original date and context, others were misled — some even criticized the media outlet for allegedly spreading false information.
Adding to the confusion, another outdated SunStar Davao social media card dated May 28, 2021 also began recirculating. The post reported a BPO company in a Davao City mall being placed under lockdown due to rising Covid-19 cases at the time.
Alarmed users shared and commented on the post, tagging friends and family — some even accused the media outlet of deliberately reposting it.
In response, SunStar Davao issued a clarification on May 29, 2025, stating:
“An old post from SunStar Davao about the city being placed under quarantine in 2021 has resurfaced on Facebook, causing confusion among Dabawenyos.”
“Fact check: The post refers to a quarantine implemented from June 5 to 20, 2021, as announced by the Davao City Government. The news was originally posted on SunStar Davao’s Facebook page on June 4, 2021.”
The media outlet urged the public to always verify the publication dates of posts before reacting or sharing. It also clarified that social media algorithms, not intentional reposting, caused these old updates to reappear in people’s feeds.
Cristina Alivio, SunStar Davao editor-in-chief, said the incident highlights the need for digital literacy and vigilance, especially in a time when misinformation can spread as quickly as any virus.
"We have noted that some individuals have raised concerns and speculated that this resurgence was intentional," she said.
Alivio, however, clarified that the publication did not have any hold in these resurfaced posts, adding that SunStar has no control.
“We would like to clarify that SunStar Davao has no control over how and when past content is redistributed by social media platforms,” she said.
“The reappearance of these posts is not a result of any deliberate action on our part. As a matter of policy, SunStar does not delete archived content. We encourage the public to exercise critical judgment and verify the context and publication dates of the information they encounter online,” she added.
Facebook post ‘bump’ explained
To better understand the sudden resurfacing of pandemic-era posts, MindaNews — a Mindanao-based online news outlet — conducted a fact-checking initiative in coordination with SunStar Davao. Their goal was to investigate the unusual timing and virality of these years-old posts that unexpectedly flooded the feeds of Dabawenyos.
Check the story here: https://mindanews.com/top-stories/2025/06/fact-check-recycled-sunstar-davao-posts-on-quarantines-were-algorithm-ups-and-were-old-news/#gsc.tab=0
Among the posts being scrutinized were at least three Facebook social media cards originally published by SunStar Davao during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Two of these posts, in particular, were widely circulated again and mistakenly interpreted as current, prompting some netizens to accuse the newspaper of inciting panic.
Scatter chart created by Mindanews via Flourish:
This wave of resurfaced content began between May 29 and May 31, 2025. According to MindaNews, as of May 31 at 6 p.m., they had tracked at least 876 Facebook users who made a combined total of 784 comments on these outdated posts. Many of these users also tagged others, further accelerating the virality.
Data gathered from SunStar Davao’s public Facebook activity showed that the first significant engagement with the June 4, 2021 post — announcing Davao City’s Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) — occurred at 1:09 a.m. on May 29, 2025. However, it's unclear whether this interaction was the original trigger. It may have been as simple as a random “Like” or comment — something nearly impossible to trace or attribute to intent.
By Sunday night, June 2, at 8:36 p.m., that single post had amassed at least 14,000 shares, 1,700 comments, and 4,000 reactions.
Mindanews noted that platforms like Facebook operate based on user engagement. Any reaction — be it a "Like," "Haha," "Heart," or a simple comment — can cause older content to reappear in others’ feeds. This phenomenon is sometimes called a “bump,” where interaction with an old post revives its visibility and circulation.
Ironically, users who commented only to clarify that the post was outdated unintentionally fueled its spread even further. The more people tried to correct the confusion in the comment section, the more Facebook's algorithm boosted the post’s reach.
In this case, the viral storm wasn’t sparked by malice or manipulation, but rather by the unpredictable nature of digital interaction. And while no single person or group can be blamed, the incident underscores the importance of media literacy and the responsibility of users to pause and verify before reacting or sharing online content.
Peculiar case
For Yas Ocampo, fact-checker for MindaNews and a member of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), the recent misinformation episode was unlike any other.
“In all the years we've been doing fact-checking, this was a peculiar case,” Ocampo said. “We’re fact-checking not because the information is inherently false — but because people are interpreting old, archived posts as if they were current.”
He explained that what made the resurfaced posts misleading wasn’t the content itself but the platform dynamics and how users misunderstood them.
“Baliktad karon. It’s not inherently wrong, but people mistook the platform’s language to be something else — and that’s what made it problematic,” Ocampo said.
After several days of monitoring and gathering data, he noted that the origins of the posts' renewed virality remain inconclusive. It’s difficult to determine whether it was a coordinated effort to mislead or simply an organic mistake fueled by misinformation and platform behavior.
Ocampo pointed to two specific user interactions that may have triggered the surge: one user commented “up” on the old post, while another tagged relatives. These are considered possible indicators, but he clarified that even these cannot be definitively linked to the post’s initial resurgence.
“I was very careful with the language — we can’t say for certain that they were the first. It’s one of the indicators, but that’s all it is,” he said.
Although similar algorithm-driven resurgences were observed on posts from other local media outlets, SunStar Davao — with over a million followers — became the primary casualty of this wave of confusion.
Ocampo emphasized that this kind of incident is not new, especially on Facebook. In the past, users have deliberately revived old posts — particularly those involving politicians or controversial personalities — as a form of protest or satire.
“This has been done before. Sometimes it’s used as subtle humor or a way to remind people about past issues. People would 'bump' a post showing a candidate involved in a previous crime or scandal. So, this phenomenon is not really new,” he said.
While there are digital forensic tools that could help trace the exact path of the engagement, limitations due to privacy settings on Facebook and the absence of transparent chronological tracking make it difficult to pinpoint where and how the resurgence truly began.
Alivio also said that SunStar Davao’s digital team also tried to investigate the origins of the viral post. However, the lack of advanced tools and the chaotic nature of Facebook’s engagement timeline made their efforts inconclusive.
“We cannot pin the blame on anybody,” Alivio said. “That’s why we have to adjust how we publish breaking stories.”
She added that SunStar Davao has since revised its strategy. In response to the incident, the media outlet will no longer release social media cards labeled only as “Breaking News.” Instead, all news cards will now include the date and brief context to prevent similar misinterpretations in the future.
“You may have noticed this change since last year — our newscards now contain the date. But with this recycled post phenomenon, we're moving away from bare ‘breaking news’ headlines. Moving forward, all cards will clearly show when the news was published and provide more context,” she said. RGL
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