Two images of Instagram stories purportedly uploaded by former Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is being circulated on the internet.
The background: This comes after the results of Karnataka Assembly elections were declared, which saw Congress crossing the majority mark of 113 seats in the state. Read our coverage here.
(Swipe right to view both claims.)
An archive of the post can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
(More archives to similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)
Are these claims true?: We found no evidence supporting the claim that Kohli had uploaded any such stories about Gandhi.
Further, the first viral image has irregular spacing and font than what is seen in the Instagram mobile application.
At the bottom of the second image, one can see a jersey similar to Mumbai Indians on which the image of Gandhi seems to be juxtaposed.
How did we find out?: On checking Kohli's official Instagram handle, we found two stories uploaded on his account which were not related to Gandhi.
Screenshots of two stories uploaded on Kohli's Instagram.
(Source: Instagram/Screenshot)
It should be noted that if such stories were uploaded in support of Gandhi on Kohli's account, there would have been several news reports indicating the same.
While it is possible for a user to upload a story and delete it before 24 hours, both viral images have different pictures of Gandhi and wordings.
We also noticed several discrepancies in the viral images.
Image 1
On comparing the viral image with a genuine screenshot of the story uploaded by Kohli on his Instagram, we noticed the letter 'l' written differently.
The number '1' also appears to be different in the viral screenshot.
(Source: Instagram/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Next, we found irregular spacing between the username and blue tick. A similar error between the blue tick and the date stamp can also be seen.
We compared the viral image with an image of The Quint's story on Instagram.
(Source: Instagram/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Image 2
At the bottom of the second image, one could see a person wearing a blue jersey on top of which Gandhi's image appears to be juxtaposed.
We compared the viral image to a screenshot of Kohli's story praising Mumbai Indians' cricketer Suryakumar Yadav and found some similarities.
A comparison clearly highlights that the viral image has been edited.
(Source: Instagram/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Conclusion: With the lack of news reports suggesting Kohli uploaded Instagram stories supporting Gandhi and the noticeable discrepancies, it is safe to say that the images are edited and are being falsely shared.
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