From misinformation around the Maharashtra assembly elections to a fake notification being circulated as an official announcement of the extension of retirement age for all central government employees, here is a recap of the most viral pieces of fake news from this week.
1. BJP Shares AI Audio Clips of Amitabh Gupta, Sule, Patole To Allege 'Poll Fraud'
In the run up to the voting day in Maharashtra assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) posted four audio clips on their official X (formerly Twitter) handle.
The party claimed that the audio clips carried conversations involving Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), Nana Patole (Congress) and IPS officer Amitabh Gupta.
In the audio clips, it could be heard the leaders talking about money and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) and all of them were speaking with one Gaurav Mehta, who is allegedly an employee of an audit firm.
Team WebQoof found that all the audio clips shared by the BJP were inauthentic and were created using the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. Read our fact-check here.
2. No, Retirement Age for Central Govt Employees Hasn’t Been Increased to 62 Years
A notification went viral on the internet with users claiming that the retirement age for all central government employees has recently been extended to 62 years (from 60 years).
However, we found no evidence to prove that such an announcement has been made to increase the retirement age for all central government employees.
Additionally, the fact-checking wing of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) termed the viral claim as "fake."
Read the full story here.
3. Fact-Check: Viral Post Misrepresents Fertility Rate for Muslim Women in India
A post was doing the rounds on social media platforms, which provided fertility rates figures for reach religion in India.
It listed the figures as 1.94 for Hindus, 1.61 for the Sikh community, 1.88 for the Christian community, 4.4 for Muslims, 1.6 for Jains and 1.39 for Buddhists.
However, we found that the claim is false as it misrepresents the figure for the Muslim community. According to the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), the total fertility rate of the Muslim community is at 2.36.
Read our fact-check here.
4. Old Video of Babulal Marandi Criticising PM Modi Passed Off as Recent
A video of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi was circulated as a recent one, amid the assembly elections in the state.
The 59-seconds-long clip showed Marandi alleging that PM Modi did not fulfill his promises he made before getting elected in 2014 and said that the latter's party has made people fight on religious lines.
But the truth is that the viral clip dated back to December 2018, which was before Marandi officially joined the BJP.
Read the full story here.
5. False Claim That Uddhav Thackeray Called Mughal Ruler Aurangzeb His Brother
Social media users shared a video of former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray claiming that he could be seen publicly seen calling the Mughal ruler, Aurangzeb, his brother.
But the claim is false as Thackeray was seen speaking about an Indian solider named Aurangzeb, who was killed by militants in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018.
Read our fact-check here.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
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