Video Producer: Shreyashi Roy
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bharadwaj
'Sometimes in the middle of the night
I visit my conscience, to see if it's still breathing
For it's dying a slow death every day.'
If this poem was written by Ram Jethmalani, then I'm a heart surgeon! And if you fell for it, I'm glad you've made it to this month's appointment with Dr Webqoof.
Here are some other fake news viruses that you might have caught.
New News, Old Videos and Images
'Indian Army’s brutality against the Muslims,' says the title of a video in which men in uniform can be seen thrashing a civilian. It went viral, like a number of other posts pegged to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Firstly, the video is from 2009 and secondly, it is not from India but Pakistan. Those are Pakistan Army soldiers beating detainees in the Swat valley region for their alleged extremist links. The video resurfaced in 2011, then again in 2017 and once more this year.
An image showing a garbage heap in a park is now similarly viral on social media.
It was shared as the 'aftermath' of the climate change demonstrations at Hyde park in Chicago on Saturday, 21 September. Like the army video, this one too, is actually from an unofficial marijuana based festival called 420, held in London in April.
Vedic Math and Jawaharlal Nehru
Zee News, DNA, India.com, Mashable and articles on how a 'Vedic math' expert helped ISRO with Chandrayaan-2. Team Webqoof reached out to ISRO. We also reached out to the Matha. So, both sides denied any such consultation of the Puri Shankaracharya – the vedic math expert – for the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
Chandrayaan may already be in a steady orbit but then, so is the fake news related to Jawaharlal Nehru. This month's quota is a photo from 1962 which shows Nehru being restrained by a man holding him, while he is surrounded by a crowd of people. The claim is that it shows him being held back when he wanted to retaliate after being slapped.
Team Webqoof did a reverse search, then referenced the source to find that the photo indeed was from 1962. It was credited to Associated Press, and according to news reports from the time, and at the particular event, he was being prevented from plunging into a crowd that had grown unruly. Nothing to do with the Sino-Indian war, or the fake 'Aryans were refugees in India' comment.
That's just a tiny sample of false narratives, fake photos, wrongly attributed quotes and poems and viral posts that are simply not true. Don't fall for them. To know how to stay safe, and for more news on fake news, check out the WebQoof section on www.thequint.com.
Until next time, stop sharing unverified forwards.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on Whatsapp at 9643651818, 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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