The Claim: Leni Robredo topped the Google Search Trends for PH elections because of Naga Leaks and other similar disparaging topics
Rating: FALSE
At a glance: in reply to a Facebook post made by CNN Philippines, a Netizen is claiming that Leni only topped the Google Search Trends because of searches for Naga leaks, vote-buying, 2016 election fraud case, and Robredo’s ‘lutang’ references.
Complete details: Google Search Trend is not a survey body but a feature that examines the popularity of top Google Search queries in various countries and languages. The website makes use of graphs to compare the number of searches for various questions across time.
On articles claiming that Leni is the most popular search term on Google Search Trends does not reveal the preferences of voters. It simply informs us which keywords or candidate names have been typed into the search engine the most.
Although not exhaustive, Leni Robredo’s hottest searches in the past 30 days included Jonvic Remulla (the Cavite governor), Cavite, her senatorial line-up, and even daughter Tricia’s age.
Bongbong Marcos, whose Trend stock went down further to almost half that of Robredo, had the hottest search words to accompany him at the moment: sedition, is Bongbong a lawyer, Senate Bill 3106, Dovie Beams (his father’s paramour), kleptocracy, and his educational attainment.
Why we fact-checked this: Pollsters have been saying that Google Search Trends is as important as polls in looking at voters’ preferences in time. Familiarizing themselves with it, it may educate them about other ways of feeling the pulse, other than the now-maligned public polls.
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