Going through my things reminded me of this 1972 silver gelatin print which I acquired back in 2018. This is a press photo of the Tasaday, supposedly an uncontacted "Stone Age" tribe "discovered" in Mindanao in 1971 who "were unaware that there were other people on the planet."

The groundbreaking "discovery" caught the attention of the world, even getting a front page and an extensive coverage from the National Geographic.

However, it was later revealed to be a grandly-executed hoax at the behest of the Marcos regime, with Manuel Elizalde Jr. as its chief architect, to distract the world from issues like human rights violations, abuses of power and corruption which hounded his administration.

This is proof that #fakenews is an indispensable tool in every repressive regime's toolbox, now and even before.