By Leigh San Diego, John Hurt Allauigan & Nikko Balbedina
An analysis of all content published by the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) official Facebook page since Jan. 1, 2025, revealed that posts concerning former President Rodrigo Duterte dominate engagement, vastly outperforming the page’s other content.
GRAPHIC BY NIKKO BALBEDINA
However, a closer examination of the data reveals a suspicious pattern of repetitive comments posted at synchronized intervals, suggesting a coordinated campaign rather than genuine discourse.
Why it matters: This “coordinated noise” hijacks algorithms to manufacture false support, drowning out legitimate updates to reframe Duterte as a political victim, not a perpetrator.
What we found: PressOne.PH analyzed every post on the ICC’s Facebook page this year. The disparity is stark:
- Eight of the top 10 most engaged posts were related to the former president.
- Duterte-related posts generated 20 times more noise than standard court updates, which averaged just 1,065 comments.
ICC’s 10 most engaged posts |
Total Engagement(Comments + Likes + Shares) |
| An ICC post announcing that the Pre-Trial Chamber I has provisionally scheduled the opening of the confirmation of charges hearing for Duterte. | |
| Livestream of the Appeals Chamber rejecting the request for interim release for the former president. | |
| A separate Facebook post confirming the ICC’s rejection of Duterte’s interim release bid after the livestream had concluded. | |
| Official photos of the former president’s initial appearance before the court are made public. | |
| Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC’s statement regarding the arrest of the former president, translated into Filipino for the local audience. | |
| An announcement that Duterte will make his first appearance before the court on March 14 to face allegations of murder as a crime against humanity. | |
| A reminder ahead of the livestream for the former president’s initial appearance. | |
| The statement of the Office of the Prosecutor regarding Duterte’s arrest. | |
| A post outlining the legal rights of defendants, highlighting that every accused person is entitled to be informed of charges, remain silent, and be tried without undue delay. | |
| A video featuring oral submissions for another case, entirely unrelated to Duterte. |
By the numbers: Significant spikes in engagement correlated directly with major developments in the Duterte case, specifically his arrest in March and the rejection of his release appeal in November.
- The March 14 Facebook post on Duterte’s initial court appearance and hearing schedule drove the year’s highest engagement, amassing 117,505 comments and 119,046 likes.
- Ranking close second is the Nov. 28 livestream of the ICC appeals chamber’s rejection of Duterte’s interim release bid which generated 100,473 comments and 62,906 likes.
- That same day, a separate update confirming the denial of his release got 43,277 comments and 136,037 likes.
Engagement did not taper off naturally. Instead, it arrived in synchronized waves and plateaued almost instantly, two to three days after its onset.
Cross-contamination: The coordinated noise spilled over onto unrelated content published close to Duterte-related posts, infecting comment sections across nearly the entire page.
- Shortly after Duterte’s first appearance, a generic post explaining defendants’ rights drew 29,679 comments, mostly from users demanding his return to the Philippines.
- A March 24 message from ICC President Judge Tomoko Akane regarding the “Right to the Truth”—posted just over a week after the hearing—amassed 16,836 comments, heavily populated by his supporters.
- On Nov. 26, ahead of the court’s rejection of Duterte’s interim release appeal, a routine update on Guatemala drew 6,203 comments—nearly 6x the average.
Coordinated noise: ‘Kangaroo court’ comments flood ICC Facebook page after rejection of Duterte bid for interim release
‘Manifesting’ interim release? Over 100 TikTok accounts push false narratives on Duterte’s ICC detention
False breaking updates are warping the news cycle
The narratives: The comment sections are filled with recycled talking points found in both offline rhetoric and identified disinformation networks. The recurring scripts are:
- “Bring him home”: Slogan used by Duterte supporters calling for his release.
- Kangaroo Court: As previously observed by PressOne.PH, the Nov. 28 rejection of his interim release triggered a surge of comments branding the ICC a “kangaroo” or “crocodile” court to attack its credibility.
- The Victim Card: Comments frame Duterte as a victim of political persecution by the Marcos Jr. administration, claiming the administration “bribed” the international court.
- Open letter: Multiple comments were crafted to appear respectful, styled as formal “open letters” to the ICC, but share identical structures and phrasing.
The bottom line: This is a manufactured reality. By flooding the ICC’s Facebook page to game algorithms, these actors create an illusion of grassroots support and obscure the drug war that left an estimated 30,000 dead by reframing the trial as a mere political vendetta.
0 Comments