A viral image shows a tweet, allegedly shared by Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, mentioning that if actor Kangana Ranaut’s office is illegal, then Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has complete right to demolish it.
However, we found that Bachchan never shared any such tweet and several red flags in the viral image prove that the tweet in question is fake.
BMC officials had started the process of demolishing ‘illegal alterations’ in Ranaut's Mumbai office-cum-residence Manikarnika Films on 9 September.
CLAIM
Social media users started taking a dig at Bachchan by saying that they also have full right to do the same to ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, a show hosted by the senior Bollywood actor.
Several social media users have shared the image on Facebook and Twitter, slamming Bachchan on his alleged comment on Ranaut’s office demolition.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We scanned through the Twitter profile of Bachchan and could find only two tweets shared on 9 September, which is also the date stamp of the tweet in the viral image.
However, none of the tweets are even remotely close to what is being claimed in the viral image.
Further, we found several red flags in the tweet that is being shared and found that it is fake. Let’s look at the red flags one by one:
1. VIRAL IMAGE VS TWEETDECK/DESKTOP VIEW
First, let’s compare the viral image with actual tweets of Bachchan seen on TweetDeck view and desktop view.
In the viral image, a blue coloured ‘Tweet’ band can be seen on the top, however no such band can be seen on either of the other views (highlighted in yellow).
Secondly, there is a symbol of ‘Search’ in the blue band in the viral image but no such symbol can been on TweetDeck view or desktop view (highlighted in green).
Third, three vertical dots can be seen in the viral image, however, no such sign in other views. The closest and the only symbol we could see on the desktop view is a downward arrow (highlighted in purple).
Further, Bachchan always numbers his tweets with starting with ‘T’ and followed by the tweet number. While tweet number can be seen in actual tweets but not in the viral image.
Also, Twitter always shows the device/platform from which the tweet has been shared. For instance, web app, Android, iPhone, TweetDeck. However, in the viral image, no such device name can be seen.
We can see ‘Twitter Web App’ (highlighted in blue) in actual tweets on TweetDeck and desktop view.
2. VIRAL IMAGE VS ANDROID/iOS VIEW
We also compared the viral image with viewing the tweets on an Android device and iPhone.
Again, found same red flags as that in the aforementioned views. Thereby, proving that the viral image does not show both Android and iOS views.
Evidently, a fake tweet has been widely circulated to falsely claim that Amitabh Bachchan has shared it and commented on demolition carried out by BMC officials.
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