Barbs directed at Filipino tennis player Alexandra Eala appear to be AI fabrications
- Published on January 29, 2026 at 09:25
- 2 min read
- By Purple ROMERO, AFP Hong Kong
Ahead of popular Filipino tennis player Alexandra Eala's first appearance at the Australian Open in mid-January 2026, fabricated quotes spread in social media posts claiming they were insults directed at the 20-year-old by Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Philippine news anchor Mel Tiangco. Both Albanese and Tiangco denied making the comments, which appear to stem from AI-generated articles.
"Just moments before at the Australian Open, an unforgettable scene unfolded as Anthony Albanese insulted Alex Eala ahead of the tournament," reads part of a Facebook post shared January 16.
The post claims Albanese dismissed Eala as "just a player from a small country". A comment links to a longer article posted on multiple websites, repeating the claim.
Another Facebook post shared January 3 claims Tiangco, a newscaster from GMA-7, "shocked and outraged" the public with comments directed at Eala, who last year became the first Filipino player to win a Grand Slam singles match.
"Don’t claim it’s for this country -- you're nothing but a despicable, selfish person," read the supposed remarks.
Comments on the post link to another lengthy article echoing the claim.
The posts circulated ahead of Eala's first appearance at the main draw at the Australian Open, with hundreds of supporters mobbing her practice sessions at Melbourne Park (archived link).
Despite storming into a first-set lead in her first-round match against Alycia Parks before a fiercely pro-Eala crowd, she was unable to deliver and lost 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 to the lower-ranked American.
Similar posts about insults aimed at Eala have circulated elsewhere on Facebook. But there are no official reports to corroborate them, and both Albanese and Tiangco have denied making the remarks.
A spokesman for Albanese told AFP on January 28 that there was no truth to the claims he had insulted the Filipino tennis player.
His personal website, the prime minister's official website and his official X, Facebook and Instagram accounts do not mention Eala (archived here, here, here, here and here).
Tiangco also addressed the claims during the "24 Hours" news programme on January 26, dismissing them as "fake news" (archived link)
"I didn’t say anything negative about Alex and I never made any insulting remarks against her," she said.
AFP found no other trace online of the supposed insults against Eala.
An analysis of the articles using The Verification Plugin, also known as InVID-WeVerify and co-developed by AFP, found they were "likely machine-generated".
Both articles appeared on websites with similar layouts and peppered with ads. The sites have posted numerous articles about politics and sports in multiple languages.
AFP has previously debunked other fabricated quotes targeting athletes.
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