Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna slammed Polish influencer and content creator Agon Hare of Project Nightfall after allegedly posting “fake news” about young Filipino chesser Bince Rafael Operiano.

In a lengthy post on Facebook Tuesday, Jan. 7, Frayna explained what really occurred and refuted the claims of the social media channel which has 17 million followers, saying it was purely exaggeration with the event taking place two years ago in Bangkok, Thailand

“Project Nightfall and other 'news agencies' must be held accountable for spreading fake news on the internet. They dramatize, exaggerate, and fabricate lies to make their news 'more appealing' to the people,” said Frayna.

“It is great to celebrate the kid's success, but there is no need to add lies in their posts just to make it viral,” she added.

The post by Nightfall Monday, Jan. 6, reached almost 140,000 reactions, 7,000 comments and 21,000 shares on Facebook.

Nightfall wrote on his post that Operiano came alone – no teammates nor coach – at the Bangkok airport where the latter eventually stayed and slept on benches for three nights.

Frayna denied this and explained that Operiano arrived with other age-group champions to banner the Nationals in the Eastern Asia Tournament along with their coaches.

She also stressed that the whole contingent was supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) during the trip and they have gone directly to their hotel – a 4-star hotel according to Frayna.

“Yes, his father followed him later in Bangkok to support his child, he paid for his own ticket / solicited funds from good meaning people to be with his child. This one is correct,” she continued.

“But let me clarify as well that there was no truth that the kid slept for 3 nights in airport benches because again when the Phil Team arrived they went straight to their respective hotel which was actually a 4 star hotel,” she added.

Frayna hopes that Nightfall would correct the details of his post while also urging the public, especially the local influencers, to fact-check the information before resharing or reposting it.

“You are a page with MILLIONS of followers and due diligence must always be practiced before posting anything even if you claim that your intentions are good..,” she concluded. 

“I just want to correct this one- sided post. Happy new year to all.”

Operiano agreed by sharing Frayna’s post, stressing Nightfall’s story was far from what really happened.