WebQoof Recap: Farmers on Fake News, Old Khalistan Image Revived

Here’s a quick recap of all that misled the public this week.

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

From farmers being targeted by social media users through misinformation to a morphed screenshot of a tweet posted by former US President Barack Obama being circulated with a false claim, here’s a quick recap of all that misled the public this week.

1. ‘We Know Why We Are Protesting’: Farmers Respond to Fake News

As farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other parts of India continue protesting against the new farm laws, they are being targeted by many on social media by means of misinformation, manipulated content and fake news.

The Quint met some of these farmers at the Delhi-Haryana Singhu Border and spoke to them about the misinformation being circulated online.

Reacting to accusations that ‘Khalistani slogans’ are being raised at protest sites, Gagandeep Singh, a farmer from Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab told us that those sharing false information on social media should think about the farmers.

“Here, no one is talking about any party or any groups. This is about farmers and their interests and that is why we all have come here. Before sharing false information on social media, we must think about how are we projecting our farmers before the world.”

Gagandeep Singh, Farmer

You can read the full story here.

2. Old Pic of Pro-Khalistan Placard Falsely Linked to Farmers Protest

An old image from 2013 of a Sikh man holding up a placard saying ‘We Want Khalistan’ was falsely revived as a recent one amid the ongoing farmers’ protest.

The image was shared with the claim, “इनका आंदोलन किसान आंदोलन नही है, इनका मकसद खालिस्तान बनाना।”

(Translation: “Their protest is not the farmers’ protest, their aim is to make Khalistan.”)

You can view an archived version here.

We found that the image was taken on 6 June 2013, the 29th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, when radical activists from Sikh organisations had gathered at Amritsar’s Golden Temple, holding placards in support of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who had demanded the establishment of Khalistan – a Sikh homeland.

You can read the full story here.

3. Obama ‘Ashamed of Shaking Hands With PM Modi’ Tweet is Not Real

A morphed screenshot of a tweet posted by former US President Barack Obama has gone viral, claiming that he is “ashamed of shaking hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

The viral screenshot shows a photograph of President Obama and PM Modi shaking hands and a caption saying, “Today I am shamefull for a hand shake with this man... #Narendra Modi [sic]”.

An archive of the post can be found here.

We went through President Obama’s Twitter feed and didn’t see the viral tweet on it. We also noticed some errors in the tweet that raised a red flag. These errors include the language of the viral tweet, mismatch in the “share” button and alignment of the text and image.

You can read the full story here.

4. No, This Pic Does Not Show Pfizer COVID Vaccine Creator Ugur Sahin

An image of a Turkish immigrant family is being circulated on social media with a false claim that the “boy in the yellow t-shirt” in the photograph is Dr Ugur Sahin, the CEO of Germany-based company, BioNTech SE, who developed the COVID-19 vaccine along with Pfizer Inc.

You can view an archived version here.

The photograph was clicked by photographer Candida Hofer in 1979 as part of her series documenting Turk immigrants in Germany.

A volunteer-community which works on immigration and immigrant experiences, DiasporaTurk had shared the image on their Twitter account in August and explained that the boy in the yellow t-shirt went on to become a ‘lathe-leveling master.’

You can read the full story here.

5. Punjab CM Met Ambani Ahead of Bharat Bandh? No, Image is From 2017

An old image and a video of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh meeting Reliance Industries Chairperson Mukesh Ambani have been revived with the false claim that the duo met a day before the ‘Bharat Bandh,’ called by the protesting farmers.

You can view an archived version here.

A reverse image search led us to the original image tweeted by the official account of Captain Amarinder Singh, on 31 October 2017.

Regarding the viral video, a keyword search of the ‘Amarinder Ambani meet’ led us to a news bulletin by news channel, Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal, dated 31 October 2017, when the CM had met Ambani during his visit to Mumbai, not in his office, as claimed.

You can read the full story here.

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