Webqoof Roundup: From Syria to Priya, Fake Stories That Marred Feb
Here is a list of fake news stories that clouded your social media timelines in February 2018.
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Two months into 2018 and the fake news menace seems to show no signs of abating, with February being tainted by several fake stories that spread like wildfire. Here’s The Quint’s Webqoof roundup of the fake stories that were busted in February.
1. Aaj Tak Falls for Parody Tweet on Priya Varrier, Airs Debate on It
Aaj Tak, the 24x7 Hindi news channel dug its own grave on 14 February, when it aired a debate on a fake tweet on Priya Prakash Varrier’s viral song from Oru Adaar Love.
The 6 pm debate on the national news channel revolved around a fake tweet stating that a fatwa had been issued against the actor for hurting religious sentiments.
Read the full story on full story The Quint.
2. Syria War Photos Go Viral, Except They Are NOT From Syria
In February, two photos began to make the rounds on social media, with users attributing it to war-torn Syria.
Sami Sharbek’s tweet garnered over 56,000 retweets and 60,000 likes. But as it turns out, the photos were not from Syria or the conflict at all.
Read full story on The Quint.
3. JNU’s Najeeb Falsely Linked to ISIS Using Fake News Reports, Again
Following a protest call by former JNU students’ union vice president Shehla Rashid at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi on Monday, 26 February, to highlight the police inaction in the Najeeb Ahmed case, a discredited news story from 2017 linking Najeeb to ISIS is going viral, again.
First year JNU student Najeeb Ahmed went missing on 15 October 2016 from the college hostel after an alleged altercation with ABVP members.
In an attempt to mar the protests, some people are sharing a discredited 2017 report of The Times of India which said Najeeb could be an ISIS sympathiser.
The story, published on the TOI’s front page on 21 March 2017, claimed that Najeeb’s internet browsing history allegedly showed that he searched for ISIS’ “ideology, execution and network” and also for “ways to join ISIS” and similar queries.
After a few journalists tried to verify the information, the Delhi Police denied the allegations, and a petition demanding an unconditional apology from the national daily had been brought up. The article was not retracted and has now resurfaced again.
Read the full story here.
4. A Photoshopped ‘Photo of the Century’ of Super Blue Blood Moon!
Star gazers across the globe got to witness the rare super blue blood moon on 31 January. The celestial show, which was a result of the moon being near its closest orbit point to the earth, occurs only once in 152 years.
While many of us were busy clicking pictures of this beautiful phenomenon, a photo was put up on Twitter titled “Photo of the Century”.
Soon, it was discovered that the snap of the super blue blood moon with Delhi’s iconic India Gate in the foreground, was a photoshopped image.
Read the full story on The Quint.
5. Father Brutally Thrashing Child Goes Viral As a Teacher’s Assault
A 10-year-old boy stands facing a man and pleads for mercy, with his hands stretched out and tears rolling down his cheek. Over the next two minutes, the man strikes the 10-year-old with the charger about seven times, lifting him in the air and slamming him on the bed twice.
According to a Facebook post, the video has been doing the rounds as that of a teacher from RM VM school in Gujarat’s Valsad district beating his student.
It was found, however, that the video was that of a father beating his child.
Read the full story on The Quint.
6. No, There Weren’t Any Flying Cars in China – That Video is Fake
You may have spotted this video of a “flying car” on your social media channels.
The various posts accompanying the fabricated video indicate that the bizarre incident happened due to a "leaked magnetic field of underground cable (sic)", or some "invisible force".
Even if one is to ignore the implausibility of such an occurrence, what betrays the fabrication in the video is the way the zebra crossing has been shown. As pointed by the fake news debunking site SM Hoax Slayer, if one watches the video closely, one would notice that the Zebra crossing lines are disappearing and appearing. This, the report says, shows that the video has been tampered with.
Read the full story here.
7. Mandarin to be Pakistan’s Official Language? Well, It’s Not True
A news report by Pakistani news channel, AbbTak, claimed that the country had passed a resolution to declare Mandarin as its official language. Not Urdu. Not English. But Mandarin.
However, there was no official confirmation whatsoever from Chinese or Pakistani officials. Some Twitter users, though, called out the fake news.
Read the full story on The Quint.
8. TOI Interviewed Hulk Hogan. Only it Wasn’t Hulk Hogan
A lot of fake news out there involves media houses deliberately twisting facts to peddle their own narratives. But when the Times of India interviewed who they thought was Hulk Hogan, the tables appeared to have turned.
The Times of Bangalore, an advertorial segment of Times of India, ran an interview with the legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan... only it was actually his doppelganger, who was more than happy to get his share of the spotlight!
As reported by Newslaundry, the matter came to light only after an observant Twitter user pointed it out.
Read the full story here.
9. Nude Dalit Protest Passed off as Atrocity Against Christians
On 14 February, a Facebook page by the name 'Breaking News BN’ shared a post detailing how a Christian pastor and his wife were humiliated by Indians in Uttar Pradesh. As per the post, the two were stripped naked and made to "march around town as punishment.” The post is also accompanied by a picture of a man and a woman standing naked, with the latter having a baby around her arms.
The post, which has garnered more than 1,27,000 shares and over 5,000 comments, is fake.
The picture used in the post surfaced back in October 2015, and, in fact, shows a Dalit family allegedly stripping in protest when the police refused to register an FIR of a robbery in Uttar Pradesh's Dankaur.
Read the full story here.
10. No, Elon Musk Didn’t Call Trump a Dumb***, The Viral Image is Fake
The launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket into space grabbed eyeballs across the world, including those of US President Donald Trump. Trump took to Twitter to congratulate SpaceX founder Elon Musk for the achievement.
Now, in a fake image that has gone viral, Musk is seen responding to Trump's congratulatory tweet with, "I'm from South Africa, you dumba**."
Read the full story here.
Read More Fake News Busts Here:
- Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Didn’t Say Jai Siya Ram. CC: Times Now, Zee
- Serial Faker ‘Shank Naad’ Attributes Fake Quote to Swara Bhasker
- Fake Quote About Gandhi and Congress Attributed to Nana Patekar
- WebQoof: Old Video From Kerala Circulates As Hindu-Muslim Clash
- Sylvester Stallone Declared Dead AGAIN! But He’s ‘Still Punching’
(With inputs from Alt News, SMHoaxSlayer and BOOMLive)
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