Apart from the demand for a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP), there is one more thing that's common between the 2020-21 farmers protests and the ongoing one – m/disinformation against the farmers.
A video showing a group of Sikhs clashing with the police, where one of them draws a sword to attack police personnel in a crowd was shared on X (formerly Twitter) on 14 February, a day after the protests began.
Sharing the video, an X user asks, “So called farmer attacking police with swords allowed on them for religious purposes Are they farmers??? Ask yourselves!!!”
An archived version of the post can be seen here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Taking the user’s suggestion, we asked ourselves if they were farmers.
The answer? No, they were not.
The video was taken before the ‘Farmers’ Protest 2.0’, which began on 13 February.
It showed a clash between two groups in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, which took place over the removal of a poster of the late Sikh separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
This is just one example of the misinformation and misleading narratives that have plagued the recent ‘Delhi Chalo’ protests by farmers around the national capital’s borders.
While some shared unrelated visuals, other people on the internet recycled visuals of the 2020-2021 farmers’ protest, linking them to the ongoing march to Delhi.
Posts maligning protesters gained immense traction, questioning their motives and the people behind the protest.
Discrediting Protesters and the ‘Poor Farmer’ Narrative
This photograph of a SUV went viral during both editions of the farmers’ protests. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Priti Gandhi took to X to question the validity of the protests, stating that “The Mercedes car the the “poor” farmer is sitting on is worth more than ₹3 crore!!”
Gandhi's post has been archived and can be seen here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Journalist Kanchan Gupta had shared the same image in 2020, raising similar questions.
An archive of this post can be accessed here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
However, we found that the car in the viral photo is a modified Force Motors’ Gurkha SUV, which costs about ₹10 lakhs.
Similarly, users also shared a video of a modified tractor from Turkey, claiming that “purportedly poor farmers can afford to modify their tractors.”
The people sharing this false claim drew the conclusion that it was “evident” that the protest is a politically motivated one, against the Modi government.
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Targeting poor farmers: This narrative, which uses various visuals to purportedly call out rich farmers, is based off protesting farmers’ demands for:
The implementation of MSP for crops
Waivers for farmers’ debts
Implementation of a monthly pension so farmers and farm worked aged over 58 can receive ₹10,000 per month for support
200 days of yearly employment under MNREGA and a remuneration of ₹700.
(Swipe to view the list of demands.)
(Photo: The Quint)
The Khalistan Angle and Recycled Communal Claims
Some of these claims resurfaced during the recent protests, where some users shared 11-year-old visuals, or videos from other countries, claiming that separatist forces backed these protests.
This photo is nearly 11 years old.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
This photograph, however, has nothing to do with either of the farmers’ protests.
The picture, which was shared in 2020 as well, was taken by news agency AFP’s photographer, Narinder Nanu, in June 2013, when activists from various radical Sikh organisations had gathered at the Golden Temple in Amritsar to mark the anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
There are several old or unrelated visuals being peddled with the ‘Khalistan’ narrative.
(Swipe to view posts.)
In a similar vein, this video, which was taken ahead of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s funeral in 2022, recently went viral with a communal spin.
It was shared with the false claim that Muslims were disguising themselves as Sikhs to join the protests.
Visuals of the 2020-21 Protests Revived, and a Second Wind Of Falsehoods
In 2020 and 2024, the same visuals of people consuming and distributing liquor have been linked to the farmers’ protests.
While the first video predates both protests, the second one shows visuals of an annual event in Punjab’s Ludhiana district where alcohol is served at a fair.
Moreover, photos and videos taken during the 2020-21 protests have resurfaced on social media, where users are falsely linking it to the ongoing protests.
This photo of a barricade set up at the Ghazipur border in February 2021 went viral in the current context and was shared to criticise security forces for standing against protesters.
An archive of this claim can be accessed here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
In another instance, this video of a man braving water cannons directed at a crowd of people went viral with hashtags such as ‘#FarmerProtest2024’, with netizens lauding the ‘power of the Indian Kisan’ (farmer).
The clip, however, dates back to December 2020 and shows visuals from the previous protests.
‘Real’ vs ‘Fake’ Farmers and AI-Generated Misinformation
Another predominant narrative on social media is one where people share visuals of the ongoing farmers’ protests, to malign protests as ‘real’ farmers and ‘fake farmers’.
Some of these posts have also shared misinformation which was previously mentioned in this report. (Archives here, here, here, and here.)
(Swipe to view social media posts.)
(Source: X/Screenshot)
One notable difference between the misinformation surrounding the 2020-21 farmers’ protests and the ongoing ‘Delhi Chalo’ march is the use of Artificial Intelligence tools.
Some social media users shared AI-generated imagery to falsely depict the plight of protesting farmers, while others shared it to claim that it showed armoured and modified tractors used by farmers.
AI-generated visuals and deepfakes pose a challenge to social media users, especially during sensitive events such as protests and elections. You can read our report on how AI can impact the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in India here.
Misinformation Related to Farmers’ Protest 2.0 in Numbers
In the two weeks since the farmers’ protests began, Team WebQoof has debunked 20 misleading or false claims surrounding the march.
Of these, we found that 70 percent of the claims used videos and 30 percent shared real images shared with misleading claims or context, while ten percent of the claims used AI-generated images.
70 percent of the claims used videos.
(Photo: The Quint)
A whopping 90 percent of the new claims used old visuals to share misinformation, with the remaining being AI-generated imagery.
60 percent of our fact-checks were of old and unrelated visuals being linked to the ongoing protests.
(Photo: The Quint)
For as long as these protests continue and in an election year, the fight against fake news is proving to be the need of the hour.
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