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ECI has clarified that there is no truth in the ‘EVMs missing’ claim. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 10, 2019
In this election season, there is a new controversy everyday over the Electoral Voting Machines (EVMs). Now, a post is being shared widely on Facebook claiming that 20 lakh EVMs are missing from the possession of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
20 lakh EVMs missing from the possession of ECI.
Fact: Sheyphali Sharan, the official spokesperson of ECI, gave a clarification on her official Twitter account regarding this issue. She said that there is no truth in the claim that ’20 lakh EVMs missing’. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched for the news on Google, it was found that the source for this news is a story titled “Missing EVMs” available online on ‘Frontline’ magazine website (Print Edition: May 24, 2019). It reported that the information was based on the RTI replies got by Manoranjan Roy, an RTI activist in Mumbai. He also filed a PIL in Bombay High Court based on the information he got on EVMs through RTIs.
After the article was published, the same was reported widely by other media houses like The Logical Indian and TV9 Bharatvarsh.  As the article went viral, Sheyphali Sharan, the official spokesperson of ECI, gave a clarification on her official Twitter account regarding this issue. She tweeted, “Regarding the story https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article27056139.ece… & news reports, it is clarified that there is no truth in contention that “20 lakh EVMs are missing”. The news report is based on inaccurate & specious misinterpretation of partial facts obtained from RTI from multiple Public Authorities.” She also tweeted the letters written to Frontline and TV9Bharatvarsh asking them to “observe the highest professional and ethical standards in reporting and would not be a party, even unwittingly, to malicious efforts at spreading misinformation.” She confirmed through her tweet that TV9 has deleted the story on this issue and Frontline Editor will publish a due rejoinder. So, the misinformation spreading over missing of EVMs is not true.
To sum it up, ECI has clarified that there is no truth in the ‘EVMs missing’ claim.


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Economic Survey pegs Subsidies to the Well-Off at Rs 1 Lakh Crore - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 27, 2016
Subsidies are often debated in the context of welfare schemes for the poor and disadvantaged. The Economic Survey for 2015-16 has now come up with the amount of subsidy going to the well-off sections of society on account of tax rate/subsidies on various commodities. The survey estimates the total amount of subsidy going to the well-off to be about Rs 1 lakh crore.
The direct and indirect subsidies to the poor and disadvantaged are often debated in the budget season. There are also demands to cut down subsidies and focus on targeting. But there are also policies that benefit the well-off sections of society. The Economic Survey for 2015-16 has a dedicated chapter on the policies that benefit the well-off. The policies include tax benefits for small savings schemes and the tax/subsidy policies on cooking gas, railways, power, aviation turbine fuel, gold and kerosene. The Economic Survey estimates that all these policies together account for Rs 1 lakh crore in subsidies to the well-off. The survey also finds that the tax incentives benefit those at the top of the income distribution more than the middle class. The chapter is included in the survey to show that the Government’s generosity is not restricted to its poorest citizens, but many cases, the beneficiaries are disproportionately the well-off sections of society.
The Not So Small Savings Schemes
The Economic Survey mentions that Public Provident Fund (PPF) and tax-free bonds issued by designated public sector companies like IRCL, IIFCL, PFC, HUDCO, NHB, REC, NTPC, NHPC, IREDA, NHAI and others are contributing to the subsidies extended to the well-off. The survey argues that savings schemes ideally should follow the EET (Exempt, Exempt, Taxation) model of taxation, which means that the contribution and the interest on these savings should be exempt while principal should be taxed when it is withdrawn. Contrary to this, the PPF in particular follows an EEE model where all the three components are exempt.
Government data also indicates that the highest claim under Section 80C of the IT act is made by those in the 30% and 20% income tax bracket. The survey also says that raising the limit of this exemption to 1.5 lakh also disproportionately benefitted those in the higher tax bracket. In 2013-14, the average income in the 30 percent tax bracket was Rs 24.7 lakh and these earners were roughly 25 lakh in number (1.1 percent of all taxpayers) and are in the top 0.5 percent of overall Indian income distribution. Similarly, the 54 lakh income earners in the 20 percent tax bracket represented the top 1.6 percent of the Indian income distribution.
The survey estimates the implicit subsidy of PPF at Rs 11,900 crore while the subsidy under Tax-free bonds is about Rs 111 crore.
Other Subsidies
The survey makes a mention of other subsidies such as Gold that has one of the lowest rates of tax (an average of 1%) while most other normal commodities are taxed at 26% (including Central & State taxes). This difference of 25% in tax mostly benefits the well-off and 98% of this subsidy is accrued to them.
For other goods, the survey estimates that the well-off enjoy a subsidy rate of 34% in Railways, 36% on LPG and 32% in Electricity. The difference of more than 30% in the tax rate of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and Petrol/Diesel also significantly contributes to the subsidy for the well-off. The survey also mentions that half of the Kerosene subsidy goes to the well-off.
The Rich’s share of consumption of these commodities is also disproportionately high. The survey categories the Poor as the bottom 30% of the population and rich as the top 70% divided based on the expenditure distribution of the National Sample Survey Data. 98% of Gold, 100% ATF, 98% Diesel,  95% Petrol, 92% of Railways, 91% of LPG, 84% of Electricity & 49% of Kerosene is consumed by the rich.
Total Subsidy for the Well-Off
The survey goes onto say that the effective subsidy to the well-off is not just the actual subsidy or tax on that commodity, but the difference between what the tax burden on that commodity should be on the rich and the actual subsidy/ tax rate. Based on normative tax rate for various commodities, the survey estimates the total subsidy to the well-off to be more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
The survey argues that the Rs 1 lakh crore of subsidy going to the better-off merely on account of 6 commodities plus the small savings schemes represent a substantial leakage from the government’s kitty and an opportunity foregone to help the truly deserving.

source: news-factly

created: February 27, 2016

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Edited 2018 Telangana police recruitment notification is being shared as the latest one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 5, 2021
A post alluding to that Telangana police recruitment board has released a recruitment notification for 18,925 vacancies is being widely shared across social media platforms. The post also shares images of the purported notification. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Telangana police recruitment board has released a recruitment notification for 18,925 vacancies.
Fact: Telangana state police recruitment board has not released any latest recruitment notification. The 2018 recruitment notification is digitally edited so as to look like the latest recruitment notification. Few news agencies have also reported the same. Even Adilabad SP stated the same through a tweet. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Search on Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board (TSLPRB) website did not yield any recruitment notification dated 03-04-2021. As per the information available on the website, the latest recruitment notification was released on 31-05-2018. By juxtaposing the image of the first page of the 2018 notification which is available on the website with that of the images in the post, we can infer that the dates and the total number of vacancies under different categories in the 2018 official notification are digitally edited so as to look like the latest notification. In fact, the number of vacancies under different categories does not add up to 18,925 in the viral post.
The rest of the images in the post are exact replicas of pages 2,3 & 4 of the original 2018 notification available on the website. Further search led us to a tweet by the official Twitter handle of Adilabad SP which shared the image of the viral notification stating that the notification is fake.
Beware of fake notification of police recruitment…. pic.twitter.com/pEscW1FhdE
Further few regional news agencies have also reported the viral notification as fake. These articles have also stated that miscreants shared the 2018 notification by changing the date. By all this, we can infer that the first page of 2018 police recruitment is digitally edited so as to look like a recent notification.
To sum it up, digitally edited version of 2018 Telangana police recruitment notification is being shared as the latest recruitment notification.


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Edited ABP News clipping shared as ban of Rs. 2,000 notes and the re-introduction of new Rs. 1,000 notes from 01 January - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 29, 2022
Update (22 May 2023): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19 May 2023 has announced withdrawal of Rs 2000 notes from circulation. Details related to these have been announced. It also said that 2000 rupee notes can be exchanged before 30 September 2023.
Update (20 December 2022): As the message of Rs. 2,000 note ban from 1st of January went viral, PIB through a tweet clarified that viral message is fake, and urged everyone not to forward such misleading messages.
A video of an ‘ABP News’ channel news clip is being shared on social media claiming that from 01 January onwards, the government is introducing new Rs. 1,000 currency notes and is planning to ban Rs. 2,000 notes as legal tender. Further, the post claims that the government is willing to allow people only 10 days to deposit their old Rs. 2000 notes and that too within a maximum limit of Rs. 50,000 per head. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: The government is planning to ban Rs. 2,000 notes as legal tender and is willing to introduce new Rs. 1,000 notes from 01 January 2023.
Fact: The post shared an edited video clip from the ‘Viral Sach’ episode published by the ‘ABP News’ channel on 26 December 2016. The full video of this episode shows the ‘ABP News’ channel debunking a viral message claiming the ban of Rs. 2,000 notes and the re-introduction of Rs. 1,000 notes from 01 January 2017. ‘ABP News’ in the report rated it as a false message and clarified that no such decision was taken by the government. Lately, the government did not announce any such plans of banning Rs. 2,000 notes and re-introducing the new Rs. 1,000 notes into the market. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, we found the same video published on the ‘ABP News’ Facebook page on 26 December 2016. The 8:31 minutes long full version of the video shows ‘ABP News’ debunking a viral message on social media claiming the ban of Rs. 2,000 notes and the re-introduction of Rs. 1,000 notes from 01 January 2017.
In the full video of this ABP’s ‘Viral Sach’ episode published on 26 December 2016, ‘ABP News’ rated this viral message as fake and clarified that the government had not taken any such decision to ban Rs. 2,000 notes and introduce the new Rs. 1,000 notes as legal tender from 01 January onwards. ABP reported that RBI officials have confirmed that they have no such plans. The video shared in the post clipped the portion of ‘ABP News’ debunking the viral message. Following the demonetization move taken by the Narendra Modi led BJP government in November 2016, several such false messages related to the new Rs. 2,000 notes circulated on social media.  A few other ‘Viral Sach’ episodes of ‘ABP News’ debunking such false claims about Rs. 2,000 notes can be seen here and here.
In August 2017, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the parliament that they are not considering any ban on Rs. 2,000 notes. Lately, neither the government nor the RBI announce any such plans to introduce the new Rs. 1,000 notes from 01 January 2023 onwards.
To sum it up, an edited ‘ABP News’ clip is being shared alleging that the government is planning to ban Rs. 2,000 notes and re-introduce Rs. 1000 notes from 01 January.

created: November 29, 2022


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Edited clip falsely shared as Rahul Gandhi's demand to not waive off farm loans - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 23, 2021
A video is shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of Indian National Congress (INC) leader Rahul Gandhi demanding the Government to stop all crop loans waiving schemes to the farmers. This post claims that Rahul Gandhi said that farmers get habituated to the loan waivers if provided for free, in a rally. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Rahul Gandhi demanded the Government to stop all the loan waiving schemes to farmers.
Fact: Video shared in the post is an edited one. During the 2018 Kisan-Adivasi rally at Bilaspur, Rahul Gandhi accused BJP Government of waiving off loans worth Rs. 2.5 Lakh crores to the top industrialists and neglecting the farmers.  A part of the Rahul Gandhi speech clipped and shared with this false claim on social media. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots shared in the post, similar visuals were found in a video published on the official YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress (INC). It is mentioned as the live visuals of the 2018 Kisan-Adivasi rally, conducted at Bilaspur city in Chhatisgarh. At 27.52 minute of the video, Rahul Gandhi said  ‘‘पिछले साल, हिंदुस्तान के सर्कार ने ढाई लाख, ढाई लाख करोड़ रुपया हिंदुस्तान के सबसे बड़े पंद्रह उध्योग पथियो का कर्जा माफ़ किया हे। ढाई लाख करोड़ रुपया, मगर वोही सर्कार जो पंद्रह लोंगोंके लिए ढाई लाख करोड़ रुपया माफ़ कर सकते हे, वोही सर्कार हिंदुस्तान के करोडो किसानो के लिए एक रुपया खर्च नहीं माफ़ कर सकते हे। उनके नेता कहते हे , किसान का कर्जा माफ नहीं करना चाहिए क्योंकि अगर किसान का कर्ज माफ किया तो किसान की आदत बिगड़ जायेगी।’. It translates to “Last year, BJP Government waived off Rs. 2.5 lakh crores worth loans to the top 15 industrialists in India. This Government can waive off 2.5 lakh crore worth loans to industrialists, but they cannot waive off even a single rupee from the farm loans of crores of farmers living in the country. And, leaders of the ruling party say that by waiving off farm loans, farmer get habituated to the free loan waivers and produce fewer crops”.
We can find the same conversation shared in the post from 28.42 minutes of the video. This 10 second part of Rahul Gandhi’s speech is clipped and is being shared on social media with a false narrative.
To sum it up, an edited clip of Rahul Gandhi’s speech is shared with a false narrative of him demanding Government to stop waiving off farm loans to farmers.

created: January 23, 2021


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Edited Dainik Bhaskar graphic shared as UK PM Rishi Sunak praising former Indian PM Manmohan Singh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 29, 2022
A post is being shared on social media with a graphic that has images of Rishi Runak and Manmohan Singh. The Hindi quote on the graphic translates to ‘ A Prime Minister like Manmohan Singh is needed to give right direction, improve the condition and the weak falling Economy of India.- Rishi Sunak.’ The graphic contains the logo of the Hindi news daily Dainik Bhaskar. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Dainik Bhasker graphic on UK PM Rishi Sunak praising former Indian PM Manmohan Singh.
Fact: This is a morphed version of a graphic posted on Twitter by Dainik Bhaskar. The original graphic contains the words ‘Chidambaram – Tharoor’s advice, PM should be a minority in India too.  BJP – Have you  forgotten Manmohan Singh’. The article linked to this tweet is about the war of words between the BJP and Congress leaders in the context of Rishi Sunak being elected the Prime Minister of the UK. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The graphic in the viral post has the logo of Dainik Bhaskar implying that it is reported by them. We searched the internet with relevant keywords to find if Rishi Sunak has said India needs a PM like Manmohan Singh to improve the failing economy. However, we could not find any relevant news reports regarding the same. Upon reverse image search of the post’s image, we found a tweet from Dainik Bhaskar containing the same image but with different text.
ऋषि सुनक ब्रिटेन के नए प्रधानमंत्री चुन लिए गए हैं। इस पद पर पहुंचने वाले वे पहले एशियाई और भारतवंशी हैं। सुनक के PM बनने पर पी. चिदंबरम और शशि थरूर ने नई बहस छेड़ दी है। भाजपा ने भी कांग्रेस पर जमकर हमला बोला। https://t.co/NZxwlM50fg#ManmohanSingh #RishiSunak pic.twitter.com/Bsj1hqhXZT
The text on the image reads, ‘Chidambaram – Tharoor’s advice, PM should be a minority in India too. BJP – have you forgotten Manmohan Singh.’ The tweet also contains a link to an article published by Dainik Bhaskar.
Rishi Sunak was elected the Prime Minister of the UK on 25 October 2022. In this context, a war of words broke between the leaders of BJP and the Congress party, and Dainik Bhaskar’s article linked in the tweet is about the same. A news report by The Hindu on the same can be read here.  The graphic in the viral post is an edited version of the original graphic tweeted by Dainik Bhaskar. It falsely attributes the statement about Manmohan Singh to Rishi Sunak which he never made.
To sum up, an edited Dainik Bhaskar thumbnail is being shared as UK PM Rishi Sunak praising former Indian PM Manmohan Singh.

created: October 29, 2022


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Edited ‘Fox News’ screenshot claims 400,000 Americans died within 9 hours of Biden’s Presidentship - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 22, 2021
A screenshot of ‘Fox News’ is being shared on social media with a claim that it reported – ‘Joe Biden has been President for nine hours and 400,000 Americans are dead’. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Screenshot of ‘Fox News’ reporting that 400,000 Americans died within nine hours of Biden’s Presidentship.
Fact: ‘Fox News’ has not reported any such news. The screenshot was originally shared by ‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’. The same ‘Fox News’ template has been used by ‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’ on many previous occasions. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On the posted photo, one can see that it is written – ‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’, on the top-right corner. So, when we searched on its Twitter profile, the same photo was found to be posted with the message – ‘Hannity tonight’. In their profile description, it is written – ‘Trevor Noah and The World’s Fakest News Team.’
Hannity tonight pic.twitter.com/uiYdRzuf0S
The same ‘Fox News’ template has been used by ‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’ on many previous occasions at least since February 2018. They have the same accompanying message – ‘Hannity tonight’. Some of those tweets can be seen here, here, here, and here. So, the posted screenshot of ‘Fox News’ regarding 400,000 deaths is an edited one.
Also, when we searched with keywords on the website of ‘Fox News’, no such news was found. A couple of days ago it was reported – ‘the U.S. exceeded 400,000 deaths due to the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The saddening milestone comes just over a month after the nation surpassed 300,000 virus-related deaths in December, breaking 250,000 deaths less than a month prior.”
To sum it up, an edited ‘Fox News’ screenshot claims 400,000 Americans died within 9 hours of Biden’s Presidentship.

created: January 22, 2021


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Edited image is shared as a new bus with Route No. 420 launched by the Karnataka government - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 6, 2023
A post is being shared that claims that a new bus route number 420 from Vidhana Soudha to Parappana Agrahara (central jail) is planned by the Congress government for the first time in Bengaluru. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: New bus with Route Number 420 from Vidhana Soudha to Parappana Agrahara (Central Jail) is launched by the Congress government in Bengaluru.
Fact: The image is morphed. There is no bus with route number 420 allotted by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). The original image shows route number 365 instead. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the image, a bus with the same number plate is found on several websites and blog posts (here, here, and here).
Comparing the original image with the viral image we found that the viral image is digitally edited.
Subsequent search on the Bengaluru bus route numbers, we found that there is no bus with route number 420. Besides, to travel from Vidhana Soudha to the central jail, one has to take two routes and there is no direct bus route available. Further, by translating the route name written on the bus into English and verifying it with the bus number on the website, we found that bus route number 365 runs between Kempegowda bus station to Bannerghatta National Park.
To sum up, a digitally edited image is shared as a new bus with Route No. 420 is launched by the Karnataka government in Bengaluru.

created: September 6, 2023


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Edited image shared as a billboard showing the Queen thanking PM Modi for sending vaccines to the UK - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 13, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows a billboard in London with a message from the Queen thanking PM Modi for sending COVID-19 vaccines to the UK. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a billboard in London with a message from the Queen thanking PM Modi for sending COVID-19 vaccines to the UK.
Fact: It is an edited photo. In the original photo, there is no such message thanking PM Modi. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the photo was run through Google Reverse Image Search, the information regarding the billboard in the photo was found. The billboard in the photo is called ‘The Piccadilly Lights’, which is in London and operated by the ‘Ocean Outdoor’. So, when we searched with relevant keywords, the original photo was found in an article on the ‘Ocean Outdoor’ website. The article was published in April 2020. In the article, it can be read – ‘Expressions of support and inspiration from The Queen will be carried on the Piccadilly Circus screen from 10am on Wednesday, April 7 and run until Sunday, April 19. It is the first time the digital screen has carried a direct message from Her Majesty the Queen.’ The Queen’s message to the nation in April 2020 can be seen here.
In the original photo, there is no such message thanking PM Modi. The following message can be read on the billboard in the original photo – ‘We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again’.
The original photo was also tweeted by ‘BBC London’ on 8 April 2020.
Queen's message of hope lights up Piccadilly Circushttps://t.co/l6l0y6HDWj pic.twitter.com/KlE3C1unLP
The photo was later picked up by several meme websites and various messages were put on the billboard by editing the original photo. You can create yours here with a message of your choice.
It is true that Made in India vaccines were sent to the UK recently. Dr. S. Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister of India, has tweeted – ‘India-UK partnership in action. Made in India vaccines delivered in London today’, on 5 March 2021. The news reports regarding the supply of vaccines to the UK by India can be read here and here.
India-UK partnership in action. Made in India vaccines delivered in London today. #VaccineMaitri pic.twitter.com/hDqiysZRZF
To sum it up, an edited image is falsely shared as a billboard showing the Queen thanking PM Modi for sending vaccines to the UK.


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Edited image shared as Rahul Gandhi wearing a Baba's attire. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 11, 2022
A post is being shared on social media in which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seen wearing a Baba’s attire. He is seen walking alongside Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Sachin Pilot. This post is being shared in the context of Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra (here). Let’s fact-check this image through this article.
Claim: Rahul Gandhi wearing a baba’s attire.
Fact: This image is a morphed version of a photo captured during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. On 3 December 2022, the Congress leader’s Yatra reached Mahudiya Village of Madhya Pradesh. Namdev Das Tyagi, a.k.a. Computer Baba, joined Rahul Gandhi during the walk. The viral photo contains a digitally altered version of the photo taken when Computer Baba met Rahul Gandhi. The Indian National Congress tweeted this image through its official Twitter handle. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
Performing a reverse image search on the viral image led us to a few news articles containing an image similar to the viral post (here and here). This picture, also tweeted by the INC through its official Twitter handle, was taken during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Madhya Pradesh. Reportedly, Namdev Das Tyagi, aka Computer Baba, met Rahul Gandhi on 3 December 2022.
साधू-संतों का आशीर्वाद और जनता का साथ…#BharatJodoYatra लहराते तिरंगों के साथ सफलता के कदम चूमते हुए आगे बढ़ रही है। pic.twitter.com/qnCKVCrofW
Congress leader Digvijay Singh can also be seen in this picture (here). Unlike in the viral image, Sachin Pilot is not seen in this picture. This picture was morphed to create a viral post. Sachin Pilot’s face replaced Rahul Gandhi’s face while a photoshopped version of his head was placed on Computer Baba. One can also see Computer Baba walking along with Rahul Gandhi in this video report by Tribune. The difference between both these images can be seen below.
A basic keyword search also led us to Sachin Pilot’s picture used in the viral photo. You can find this picture here and here, which was captured during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajashthan. This picture of Sachin Pilot was flipped and used in the morphed viral image. With all this evidence, we conclude that the image shared in the post is morphed.
To sum up, an edited image is being shared as Rahul Gandhi wearing a Baba’s attire.

created: December 11, 2022


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Edited image shared as Rohit Sharma’s poster exhibited in India’s new Parliament and at the G20 summit - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 15, 2023
A post is being shared on social media claiming that posters featuring Indian Cricket Team Captain Rohit Sharma were exhibited in India’s new Parliament and at the G20 summit as a representation of the country’s sporting achievements. A photo showing Rohit Sharma’s framed photograph hung on a wall was shared in the post. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Rohit Sharma’s poster displayed in India’s new parliament and at the G20 summit.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is an edited one. The original photo frame exhibited at the Chepauk Stadium Museum featured a still of Sunil Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth. There are no reports of Rohit Sharma’s posters being displayed in India’s new parliament or at the G20 summit as a representation of the country’s sporting achievements. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, we found a few social media users sharing the same photo by stating that the photo frame was displayed in the Chepauk Museum in Chennai. When we searched for further sources, we found a similar photo tweeted by an ‘X’ user with the description, “Chepauk museum featuring MS Dhoni, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev.” However, the image shared by this user did not show Rohit Sharma’s photo frame being displayed on that same wall.
On searching for further details, we found a video tweeted by the BCCI, showing the visuals from the museum and dressing room inside the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, commonly known as Chepauk Stadium, in Chennai. The original photo frame exhibited at the Chepauk Stadium Museum featured a still of Sunil Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth.
A brand new avatar of Chepauk! 🏟
Take an exclusive tour of the brand new dressing room at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai with #TeamIndia 👌🏻👌🏻#INDvAUS | @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/6CvIIrfXJd
A video published by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin’s official YouTube channel, related to the inauguration of a pavilion stand at Chepauk stadium, also showed the photo frames of Kapil Dev, M. S. Dhoni, and Sunil Gavaskar inside the Chepauk Museum. No photo frame featuring Rohit Sharma was exhibited at the museum in the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Many social media users shared similar edited images of Virat Kohli’s photo adjusted on the same photo frame of Sunil Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth. There are no reports of Rohit Sharma’s posters being displayed in India’s new parliament or at the G20 summit as a representation of the country’s sporting achievements. India TV also published a fact-check article confirming that the viral photo is edited and that no poster of Rohit Sharma was displayed in Parliament or Bharat Mandapam
To sum it up, an edited image is shared as the poster of Rohit Sharma showcased at India’s new Parliament and at the G20 summit as a representation of the country’s sporting achievements.

created: September 15, 2023


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Edited images are being shared as genuine UP Exit Poll (2022) figures by reputed agencies - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 9, 2022
The screenshots of a few exit poll figures related to the Uttar Pradesh Aeembly Elections (2022) are being shared on social media. Let’s fact-check the claims made in the posts.
Post 1:
Claim: ‘Aaj Tak’ UP Exit Poll 2022 predicted 225 seats for the Samajwadi Party.
Fact: The posted screenshot of ‘Aaj Tak’ is an edited one. The ‘Aaj Tak’ UP Exit Poll 2022 predicted a majority for the BJP, not SP. It predicted only 71-101 seats for the SP. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the posted screenshot was run through Google Reverse Image Search, the same photo was found as a thumbnail of a video on YouTube. The video was not posted by ‘Aaj Tak’. In fact, on clicking the thumbnail, a ‘Zee Exit Poll’ video clip gets played, which also did not predict 225 seats for the Samajwadi Party.
The posted screenshot is an edited one. The template of ‘Aaj Tak’ breaking news does not match with the posted screenshot.
Also, the ‘Aaj Tak’ UP Exit Poll 2022 predicted a majority for the BJP, not SP. It predicted only 71-101 seats for the SP.
Post 2:
Claim: UP Exit Polls (2022) by international news agencies (like BBC, The New York Times) predicted a majority for the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Fact: None of the listed international news agencies published any exit polls predicting a majority for the Bahujan Samaj Party in the UP Elections (2022). The posted image is an edited version of the ‘Amar Ujala’ template. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the screenshot of the image was run through Google Reverse Image, a similar photo was found in the ‘Amar Ujala’ article. However, it is different from the posted one. None of the news agencies listed in the ‘Amar Ujala’ article has predicted a majority for the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Also, none of the international news agencies (mentioned in the post) has published any exit polls predicting a majority for the Bahujan Samaj Party in the UP Elections (2022). Recently, the ‘BBC News (Hindi)’ wrote an article based on the exit polls of other news agencies like India Today and Times Now.
To sum it up, edited images are being shared as genuine UP Exit Poll (2022) figures by reputed agencies.


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Edited images shared as the pictures of golgappa shops in India named after the new OpenAI's chatbot ‘ChatGPT’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 6, 2023
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it is the picture of a chat and golgappa shop in India that was named after the new OpenAI’s chatbot ‘ChatGPT’. The photo shows a golgappa shop with the name ‘Chat GPT Corner’. In the wake of the internet buzz over OpenAI’s new artificial intelligence chatbot, ‘ChatGPT‘, many users sharing this photo stating that even street vendors in India are adopting the latest technological words for their business. Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma had also made a tweet about this photo stating, “One chat GPT combo please — Chat of Golgappa & Potato Tikki.” Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a chat and golgappa shop in India named ‘Chat GPT Corner’.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is a morphed one. In the original photo, the chat and golgappa shop was named ‘Sai Chaat Corner’, not ‘Chat GPT Corner’. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo and by searching using relevant keywords on the internet, a similar photo was found published on the ‘Zomato’ website. The original photo published on the Zomato website shows the chat and golgappa shop name as ‘Sai Chaat Corner’.
‘Sai Chaat Corner’ street food shop is located in the South Extension 2 area of New Delhi. On comparing the photo shared in the post with that of the ‘Sai Chaat Corner’s photo published on the Zomato website, it can be confirmed that the photo shared in the post is a morphed one.
Another photo is also being shared on social media in a similar context claiming that it is a picture of the ‘Chaat GPT Corner’ street food shop in India. But, the photo shared in this post is also a morphed one. The original photo shows the billboard of Nungambakkam Chaat Corner in Chennai.
To sum it up, edited images are shared as pictures of golgappa shops in India that were named after the new OpenAI’s chatbot ‘ChatGPT’.

created: February 6, 2023


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Edited news clip about BJP leader's connection with Maoists is being shared - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 7, 2021
In view of the recent attack by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district in which at least 22 security personnel lost their lives, a post accompanying an image of a Hindi newspaper clipping is being shared widely. The clip states that a BJP leader was arrested for connection with the Naxals linking the arrest to the recent incident. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image of a newspaper clipping that mentions the arrest of a BJP leader for links with the Naxals.
Fact: Although the news about the BJP leader’s arrest for connection with Naxal’s is true, it happened back in June 2020. This news is digitally added to a news clip of Navabharat dated 05 April 2021, which reported the recent deadly attack by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur. The arrest of BJP leader has nothing to do with the recent Chhattisgarh incident. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Since the news clipping is attributed to Navabharat news network, search on Navabharat website for the purported news clip yielded a news clipping dated 05 April 2021 which is similar to the clipping in the post. Except for the news about the BJP leader’s arrest for connection with Naxals part, the rest of the layout is similar in both the clippings.
Further, taking a cue from the news clipping in the post regarding the BJP leader’s arrest, Google search with relevant keywords yielded multiple June 2020 news articles about the same BJP leader named ‘Jagat Pujari’s’ arrest for supplying goods to Naxals in Dantewada. These articles can be read here, here, and here. With this, we can infer that the news of BJP leader’s arrest for connection with Naxals is old and it is digitally added to the Navabharat news clip which reported the recent deadly attack of Maoists in Chhattisgarh. It is noteworthy to mention that earlier there have been instances of even Congress leaders getting arrested for links with Naxals.
On further investigation, it was found that Jagat Pujari (BJP leader) was supplying goods to naxals since last 10 yrs. He used to meet them regularly&supplied goods to them with the help of villagers. Jagat Pujari&a naxal arrested: Abhishek Pallav,SP Dantewada.#Chhattisgarh (2/2) pic.twitter.com/QwD6egJs79
To sum it up, a digitally edited news clip about BJP leader’s links with Naxals is being shared in light of the recent attack in Chhattisgarh.


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Edited news report falsely shared as human faeces found near Hanuman statue in Brampton, Canada - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 28, 2023
A post accompanying a screenshot of the ‘Toronto Sun’ news report titled “Numerous piles of human feces have found around Hindu god Hanuman Statue in Brampton” is being shared on social media.  Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Numerous piles of human faeces appear in the area around the Hindu God statue in Brampto, Canada – Toronto Sun News Report.
Fact: This Toronto Sun’s report on human faeces found near Hanuman statue is a digitally edited one. The original news report published by Toronto Sun is titled “Massive statue of Hindu god being built in Brampton” which talks about the construction of the statue and the sculptor. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We conducted a keyword search on Google, taking a cue from the viral screenshot. However, we didn’t find any news reports with a similar title from ‘Toronto Sun’  or any other news source. The search, however, led us to another article published by the Canadian media outlet, ‘Toronto Sun’, on 15 December 2023, written by the same author (Denette Wilford) who was mentioned in the viral screenshot. The headline of the original news article reads: “Massive statue of Hindu god being built in Brampton”.
Here is a comparison between the viral news report and the screenshot of the actual news report on the Toronto Sun website. By comparing both, we can observe that it is the same report that has been altered with a different headline, confirming that the viral screenshot is edited. Moreover, the original news report discusses the construction of the statue and the sculptor.
According to a news report published by Indian Express, the 55-foot Hanuman statue will be formally unveiled at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton, Canada, on 23 April 2024, coinciding with the Hanuman Jayanti, the deity’s birth anniversary.
To sum it up, the viral screenshot of the news article claiming ‘Numerous piles of human faeces appear in the area around the Hindu god statue…’ is a digitally edited one.

created: December 28, 2023


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Edited photo falsely shared as an AAP Gujarat campaign banner that says - ‘Gujarat will read namaz’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 14, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) campaign banner in Gujarat. The post claims that the banner reads – ‘Gujarat padega namaz’ (Gujarat will read namaz) and ‘Bhagwat saptah aur Satyanarayan katha/puja jaisi faltu pratha chhodo’ (Leave the useless Bhagawat week and Satyanarayan puja), in Gujarati. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of an AAP campaign banner in Gujarat which reads – ‘Gujarat will read namaz’.
Fact: The posted photo is an edited one. On comparing with the other similar banners, it can be seen that the text – ‘Now Gujarat will change’ (in Gujarati) has been replaced with ‘Gujarat will read namaz’, and the empty space has been filled with the text – ‘Bhagwat saptah aur Satyanarayan katha/puja jaisi faltu pratha chhodo’. Also, the photo of Gopal Italia (President, Aam Aadmi Party – Gujarat) on the posted banner has been edited. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the posted photo was run through Google Reverse Image Search, it was found that ‘AAP Gujarat’ has already clarified that the viral photo is fake as it has been edited. Yogesh Jadvani, a spokesperson of AAP Gujarat, has tweeted the original poster design on his account after the edited image went viral. It can be seen that the text – ‘Now Gujarat will change’ (in Gujarati) has been replaced with ‘Gujarat will read namaz’, and the empty space has been filled with the text – ‘Bhagwat saptah aur Satyanarayan katha/puja jaisi faltu pratha chhodo’.
Except for the posted viral photo (which has been edited), none of the other similar banner photos on social media had such religious hate text as claimed in the post. Some of the banners from various other locations can be seen here, here, here, and here. It can also be noticed that the photo of Gopal Italia (President, Aam Aadmi Party – Gujarat) on the posted banner has been edited (with the photo of Mullah Krekar).
To sum it up, an edited photo is falsely shared as an AAP Gujarat campaign banner saying – ‘Gujarat will read namaz’.


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Edited photo of a Pakistani baby born with a polymelia disorder shared as miracle baby born with a lord Shiva symbol on his forehead - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 18, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it to be a picture of a miracle baby born with six legs and the symbol of lord shiva on his forehead. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a miracle baby born with six legs and the symbol of Lord shiva on his forehead.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is a morphed one. The original photo does not show the Lord shiva tattoo on the boy’s forehead. The baby in the photo was born in Pakistan, with a rare genetic disorder called polymelia. A team of five doctors from the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) in Karachi successfully separated the extra legs from the baby in 2012. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo of a baby born with six limbs was found in an article published by the ‘First Post’ news website on 18 April 2022. But the original photo shared in the article does not show the lord shiva symbol on the baby’s forehead. ‘First Post’ reported it as a picture of a baby boy who was born with six legs in Sukkur, Pakistan. The baby was reportedly taken to the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) in Karachi on 16 April 2012, for surgery.
According to a few news reports published by the ‘Dawn’ and the ‘HuffPost‘, a team of five surgeons successfully separated the extra legs or lower limbs from the baby.  The then NICH Director Jamal Raza spoke to the media and said that the extra limbs and legs were the result of a genetic disease which would affect only one in a million or more babies.
Dr Raza said it was a case of parasitic conjunction. Dr. Raza said the supernumerary limbs are the result of a congenital anomaly called polymelia. An NCBI journal published regarding polymelia can be seen here. Raza informed the media that the baby started out developing as conjoined twins, but then one of the twins stopped growing and disintegrated except for its legs, which remained attached to the fetus.
In July 2022, a woman gave birth to a baby with four arms and four legs in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district. A large crowd thronged to watch the baby then and referred to the baby as ‘miracle of nature’ and a reincarnation version of God. But several international news websites reported that it can be a case of polymelia.
To sum it up, an edited photo of a Pakistani baby born with a polymelia disorder is shared as miracle baby born with a Lord Shiva symbol on his forehead.

created: October 18, 2022


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Edited photo of an old advertisement issued by the AAP Government shared now with a communal narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 20, 2021
The screenshot of a newspaper advertisement purportedly issued by the AAP Government is being shared on social media. The advertisement is in Hindi and the English translation of the heading reads “Delhi government’s assistance scheme for the help of riot victims (Muslims)”. This post claims it as the advertisement of the AAP Government scheme which is intended to benefit only the Muslim victims of the Delhi riots. The ad has details of monetary compensation to be provided to the victims based on the category into which they fall and compensation to be given for the damage caused to their residential and commercial units. In the wake of Kisan tractor rally violence in Delhi on Republic day, this post is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: AAP Government special riot assistance scheme for the Muslim victims of the Delhi riots.
Fact: The Photo shared in the post is an edited one. In the original advertisement, Aravind Kejriwal led Delhi Government mentioned the compensation amounts to the victims of communal riots which took place in Delhi during February 2020. It is nowhere mentioned that Muslims are only eligible under this scheme. The word ‘Muslim’ is nowhere to be seen in the original advertisement. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, we found the soft copy of this advertisement in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tweet made on 29 February 2020. This advertisement mentioned the compensation amount to be provided to the victims of the Delhi communal riots that took place in February 2020. In the original version of this advertisement, it is nowhere mentioned that this scheme applies only to Muslims. The word ‘Muslim’ isn’t mentioned in the heading or anywhere else in the original version of this advertisement. Also, the last statement of this tweet mentions that there is no religion greater than humanity.
दंगा पीड़ितों के लिए दिल्ली सरकार द्वारा दिये जाने वाले मुआवज़े का विवरण। यदि आप किसी दंगा पीड़ित को जानते हैं तो उससे साझा करें। और हर संभव मदद करें।
इंसानियत से बड़ा कोई धर्म नहीं है। pic.twitter.com/WtDtJF5uS1
AAP also shared the original version of this advertisement on their Facebook page. The English version of the same advertisement shared by the AAP social media and IT strategist Ankit Lal.
A similar photo of this advertisement was found in the ‘ZEE News’ article published on 29 February 2020. In the article, it is reported that Aravind Kejriwal led Delhi Government announced the compensation amount to the victims of communal riots that took place in Delhi during February 2020. It is nowhere mentioned that only Muslims are eligible for this compensation scheme. News articles published on the Delhi Government compensation scheme for Delhi riot victims can be seen here and here.
Earlier, when a similar edited version of this advertisement was shared with a similar claim, FACTLY published a fact-check article. It can be seen here.
To sum it up, an edited photo of the old advertisement issued by the AAP Government is shared now with a communal narrative.

created: February 20, 2021


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Edited photos shared as Opinion Polls predicting majority seats to BSP in the upcoming UP elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 1, 2022
A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that an Opinion Poll by Republic Bharat suggests, Bahujan Samaj Party could secure 252-272 seats in the upcoming UP elections. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Republic Bharat’s Opinion Poll predicting 252-272 seats to BSP in the upcoming elections in UP.
Fact: The photo had been edited to make it look like BSP is going to bag 252-272 seats in the upcoming elections in UP. The numbers for BJP and BSP have been interchanged. The Republic TV-PMARQ Opinion Poll 2022 had predicted a BJP win in Uttar Pradesh. According to the poll, the BJP and its allies are going to retain power with 252-272 expected seats out of 403 seats in the state assembly. Samajwadi Party is expected to get 111-131 seats, with BSP expected to get 8-16 seats. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the photo, a similar photo is found on the official Twitter handle of Republic Bharat. The photo attached to the tweet posted on 17 January 2022 predicts only 8-16 seats for the Bahujan Samaj Party. According to the PMARQ opinion poll, presented by Republic Bharat, it is the BJP that is expected to get 252-272 seats in the upcoming UP elections, not the BSP.
#RepublicOpinionPoll | PMARQ के  ओपिनियन पोल के मुताबित उत्तर प्रदेश में बीजेपी को 252 से 272 सीटें मिलने का अनुमान
देखिए 5 राज्यों का सबसे बड़ा ओपिनियन पोल #LIVE – https://t.co/ilGNRanrxL pic.twitter.com/gpAaHQB5WI
When the viral photo is compared with the photo posted by Republic Bharat, it can be seen that the numbers given to BJP and BSP were interchanged. Clearly, the original photo had been edited to make it look like BSP is expected to get 252-272 seats in UP.
The Republic TV-PMARQ Opinion Poll 2022 had predicted a BJP win in Uttar Pradesh. According to the poll, the BJP and its allies are going to retain power with 252-272 expected seats out of 403 seats in the state assembly. Samajwadi Party is expected to get 111-131 seats, with BSP expected to get 8-16 seats.
Updated (09 March 2022) :
Similarly, another screenshot predicting 203-211 seats for BSP is also doing rounds on social media platforms. The screenshot carries the logo of News 24 and the prediction is attributed to DB Live.
However, as per the original News 24 report footage, published on 22 January 2022, DB Live predicted 12-20 seats for BSP and not 211 seats as claimed in the viral post. Upon juxtaposing the viral screenshot with that of the original News 24 screenshot, it is clearly evident that News 24 screenshot is digitally edited to show that DB Live predicted 203-211 seats for BSP, which is not the case in reality.
To sum it up, an edited photo is shared as Republic Bharat’s Opinion Poll indicating 252-272 seats to BSP in the upcoming UP elections.

created: February 1, 2022


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Edited photo shared to portray the self-made dish of Kangana Ranaut as a recipe from Google - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 6, 2021
A post is being shared on social media claiming that Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut tweeted the photo of a recipe available on Google as her self-made recipe. Kangana Ranaut tweeted this photo of her dish on 04 March 2021. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Kangana Ranaut shared a recipe photo available on Google as her self-made food.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is a morphed one. The recipe photo being shared alongside Kangana Ranaut’s tweet is not the ‘Spring Acai Bowl’ recipe available on the Kuvings website as is being claimed. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On searching the ‘Kuvings’ website, we found a photo of the Spring Acai Bowl recipe. The Spring Acai Bowl recipe on this website is not similar to the recipe shared by Kangana Ranaut. There is no picture on this website similar to the recipe shared in Kangana Ranaut’s tweet.
The text under the Spring Acai Bowl recipe Google search results was morphed and replaced with a photo shared by Kangana Ranaut. Also, in the other photo shared by Kangana, she is seen holding the recipe with her hand.
When this edited photo of her recipe went viral with a false claim, Kangana Ranaut responded through her Twitter handle. Kangana tweeted that a fake edited image of her recipe is being shared on social media with memes. In another tweet, Kangana shared a photo of the table on which she kept this recipe. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the recipe shared by Kangana Ranaut is not the Spring Acai Bowl recipe available on the ‘Kuvings’ website, but her own.
All the influencers accounts automatically get memes to post mocking or making fun of everything I do, in this case this fake edit being spread claiming that I lied about cooking, this may seem frivolous on surface but deep down it’s made to damage one’s credibility and dignity.. pic.twitter.com/dTpLfJgBm5
To sum it up, an edited photo falsely portrays the self-made dish of Kangana Ranaut as a recipe available on Google.


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Edited photos shared as Lord Ram on the billboards at New York Times Square - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 6, 2020
Some images are being shared widely on social media with a claim that they show Lord Ram’s photos being displayed on the billboards at New York Times Square on the occasion of Ayodhya Ram Temple foundation stone laying ceremony on 05 August 2020. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the posts.
Photos of Lord Ram being displayed on the billboards at New York Times Square.
Fact: While it is true that a billboard at the New York Times Square has displayed the photo of Lord Ram and a 3D visualization of Ayodhya Ram Temple, the posted photos are fake. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Photo 1: (archived)
When the posted image was run through Yandex Reverse Image Search, a similar image was found in the search results. But, it is a mirror image of the posted photo and does not have Lord Ram’s pictures on the billboards. The surroundings, the positions of people and cars are found to be same in both the photos. It was found that the original photo is being circulated on the internet at least since 2011. The same photo can be also found on multiple wallpaper websites. The print of the same photo can be found being sold on websites like eBay and Amazon, which credited the photo to Jose Fuste Raga.
Photo 2: (archived)
On doing the reverse image search, a similar photo with the same surroundings and people at the same locations can be found in an article published by ‘CNN Arabic’ in 2019. In the original photo, it can be seen that, in the place of Lord Ram’s photo, there is a photo of ‘Amr Diab’, a Middle Eastern artist. The ‘Spotify Arabia’ has also posted a similar picture from another angle. Also, the posted photo has a Twitter ID (‘IND_CYBORG’) on it, which belongs to a user with the name ‘ALLU’. He describes himself as ‘Sketch and Digital Artist’ and a lot of edited photos can be seen on his profile. So, the posted image is also an edited photo.
While the above two photos are fake, ‘ANI’ has reported that a billboard at the New York Times Square has displayed the photo of Lord Ram and a 3D visualization of Ayodhya Ram Temple. The actual photo can be seen below.
USA: #RamMandir digital billboard comes up in New York’s Times Square. pic.twitter.com/MqklVfD2fr
To sum it up, some of the photos shared as Lord Ram on the billboards at New York Times Square are edited and not real.
Did you watch our new video?

created: August 6, 2020


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Edited screenshot shared as of PM Modi saying, “I used to ask for Lassi from Jat’s house. I lived in Jatland for 20 years” - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 2, 2022
A screenshot through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming, PM Modi said that he used to ask for lassi from Jat’s house and that he lived in Jatland for 20 years. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Screenshot of PM Modi saying, “I used to ask for Lassi from Jat’s house. I lived in Jatland for 20 years.”
Fact: The viral screenshot had been edited from a screenshot of a video report by India TV. PM Modi was addressing the National Cadet Corps Rally on 28 January 2022 where he talked about strengthening the NCC but there was no mention of drinking lassi from a Jat’s house or living in Jatland for 20 years. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
There is a logo of India TV on the top and bottom right corners of the screenshot. When reverse image search is done on the screenshot with relevant keywords, a similar screenshot was found in a video report by India TV. The video report was uploaded on YouTube on 28 January 2022. However, it did not say anything about Jats or the Jatland. The YouTube video is about Prime Minister’s address at an NCC Rally in Delhi.
When the viral screenshot is compared with the screenshot in the India TV video, it can be clearly seen that PM Modi did not say, “I used to ask for Lassi from Jat’s house. I lived in Jatland for 20 years.” These words were edited on the screenshot of the India TV YouTube video.
PM Modi addressed the National Cadet Corps Rally in New Delhi on 28 January 2022. He spoke about strengthening the National Cadet Corps in the country. There was no mention of drinking lassi from a Jat’s house or living in Jatland for 20 years in his full address at that venue. We could not find any evidence online, of Narendra Modi saying, “I used to ask for Lassi from Jat’s house. I lived in Jatland for 20 years.”
To sum it up, this screenshot of Narendra Modi saying, “I used to ask for Lassi from Jat’s house. I lived in Jatland for 20 years” had been edited.

created: February 2, 2022


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Edited tweet shared as Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu thanking PM Modi and RSS - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 17, 2021
A social media post is being widely shared online claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister thanked PM Narendra Modi, RSS, and all Indians for standing up in support of Israel amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Benjamin Netanyahu thanks PM Modi, RSS and all Indians in a social media post.
Fact: When we searched through the Twitter timeline of Benjamin Netanyahu, there was no post thanking PM Modi, RSS, or Indians amidst the ongoing conflict with Palestine. The only post that thanked 25 nations for supporting Israel and their right to self defence against terrorist attacks was found on his Twitter timeline. It has the same time and date as mentioned in the post but does not mention India. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We went through the Twitter timeline of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking for the claim made in the post that he thanked all Indians, PM Modi, and the RSS, but we could not find any post regarding the same. However, there was a post thanking 25 countries across the world ‘for resolutely standing with Israel and supporting our right to self-defense against terrorist attacks’ with the same exact time (3:47 am) and date (May 16, 2021) as mentioned in the post.
🇺🇸🇦🇱🇦🇺🇦🇹🇧🇦🇧🇷🇧🇬🇨🇦🇨🇴🇨🇾🇨🇿🇬🇪🇩🇪🇬🇹🇭🇳🇭🇺🇮🇹🇱🇹🇲🇩🇳🇱🇲🇰🇵🇾🇸🇮🇺🇦🇺🇾
Thank you for resolutely standing with 🇮🇱 and supporting our right to self defense against terrorist attacks.
On further google search to find out whether Benjamin Netanyahu had actually thanked Indians, PM Modi, and RSS, we came across a couple of news articles which can be seen here and here. The articles report that Netanyahu thanked 25 nations for supporting Israel in the current conflict, but India wasn’t one of them. India has opposed Israeli settlements in Palestine, supports maintaining the status quo, says the report.
However, the State of Israel’s official Instagram account through their Instagram stories on 18 May 2021 has thanked the people of India and US who had supported Israel in these times. They have included pictures of people from these countries displaying Israel national flag as a mark of support.
When it comes to India’s official position in the ongoing conflict, it has been more neutral. India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador, T.S. Tirumurti had tweeted saying he told the UNSC meeting on Tuesday that India was “Deeply concerned at clashes and violence in Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount” and “equally concerned about evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhoods”. He called on both sides to avoid changing the status quo on the ground and noted that Jerusalem also houses an Indian Hospice, Al Zawiyya Al Hindiyya. He went on to condemn rocket fire from Gaza and urged restraint of all parties calling on them to adhere to UNSC Resolution 2334 (which, voted for 14-0 in 2016, noting that Israel’s settlement activities in Palestinian territories were a “flagrant violation” of international law). India remains committed to the two-state solution, Ambassador Tirumurti said.
At #UNSC meet today on Israel-Palestine, I said: 1/3
🔹Deep concern at violence in #Jerusalem, Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount, & eviction in #SheikhJarrah & Silwan
🔹Rocket attacks from #Gaza, we condemn, & retaliation into Gaza caused deaths
🔹Condemn all violence, destruction ⬇ pic.twitter.com/smd3Ztco8o
To sum it up, edited tweet is shared as Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu thanking PM Modi and RSS amidst the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Update (MAY 19, 2021):
This article was updated to include the State of Israel’s Instagram Stories thanking the people of India and US who had supported Israel.


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Edited video clip shared as the visuals of Narendra Modi receiving an underwhelming welcome during his recent visit to France - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 19, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming that the footage depicts a lacklustre or underwhelming welcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to France. The video shows Narendra Modi being welcomed solely by a female foreign government official. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing an underwhelming welcome of PM Narendra Modi during his visit to France
Fact: The video shared in the post shows an edited clip of Narendra Modi’s grand welcome in Paris on 13 July 2023. Narendra Modi was received at the airport by French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and was given a ceremonial welcome and guard of honour upon his arrival in Paris. The video shared in the post clipped the portion of Narendra Modi being accorded with ceremonial welcome and guard of honour in Paris. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
When we searched for the video using relevant keywords, the same video was found published by the official YouTube channel of Narendra Modi on 13 July 2023. The video was published with the description, “PM Modi’s Grand Welcome in Paris | French PM Borne warmly greets him at the airport!”. When we searched for further sources, an extended version of the video of Narendra Modi’s grand welcome in Paris was found on the YouTube channel of Narendra Modi.
The extended version of the video shows Narendra Modi being accorded with ceremonial welcome and guard of honour after French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne received him upon his arrival in Paris. A few news articles that reported on the ceremonial welcome received by Narendra Modi in Paris can be seen here and here. The video shared in the post shows only a clipped portion of Narendra Modi’s grand welcome in Paris.
To sum it up, an edited video clip is shared as the visuals of Narendra Modi receiving an underwhelming welcome during his visit to France.


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Edited video clips shared as the visuals of Rahul Gandhi’s statements about the fertility rate in UP and about unemployment - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 9, 2023
A video showing multiple clips of Rahul Gandhi’s speeches at different rallies is being shared on social media claiming that these are funny visuals of Rahul Gandhi making absurd statements about the fertility rate in UP and unemployment with a complete lack of knowledge about the issues. The first video clip shows Rahul Gandhi saying- “There are some women in Uttar Pradesh who give birth to a child every week, and some who give birth to 52 children in a year“. The other video clip shows Rahul Gandhi stating unemployment as the reason for eagles flying in the respective public rally surroundings. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video clips showing Rahul Gandhi’s statements about the fertility rate in Uttar Pradesh and about the unemployment of birds.
Fact: Both video clips shared in the post are edited. The first video clip was created by merging audio and video clips of Rahul Gandhi’s speeches from two different rallies held in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The other video clip shared in the post was also created by clipping Rahul Gandhi’s statement about the government turning a blind eye to keeping municipalities clean where common people live but are waiving debts of billionaires like Anil Ambani and Adani using people’s money. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
The video shared in the post contains two video clips of Rahul Gandhi’s speeches at two different rallies. Let’s find the details of each video clip one by one.
Video clip 1:
On reverse image search of the video shared in the post and by searching with relevant keywords on the internet, a video showing the same visuals was found published by the Indian National Congress on 15 April 2021. The video shows Rahul Gandhi’s speech at a public meeting in Goalpokhar ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Elections. While speaking about Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi said that during COVID-19, hospitals were filled with dead bodies and the government has no idea about it. Rahul Gandhi during his speech spoke about the adverse effects of demonetization and failure in handling COVID-19. Rahul Gandhi during his speech did not speak anything about the fertility rate in Uttar Pradesh.
When we searched for further sources, we found that the audio in the video clip was taken from Rahul Gandhi’s old speech at a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Phoolpur in 2011. Speaking about the misuse of the Janani Suraksha Yojana in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi said that Congress through an RTI reply learned that many women in the state claim to have given birth multiple times to get cash assistance. The portion where Rahul Gandhi talks about women who make false claims for obtaining Janani Suraksha Yojana benefits was cropped out and attached to the video shared in the post.
Video clip 2:
On reverse image search and by searching with relevant keywords on the internet, a video showing the same visuals was found published on the official YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress (INC) on 05 February 2020. Alleging that the Narendra Modi government had waived off 3 lakh 50 thousand crores of Anil Ambani and Adani, from 9:36 minutes of the video, Rahul Gandhi said, “Say me why these eagles were flying here. What these eagles were doing here? Can anyone say how much crores it will cost to remove this dirt? A 10-year-old girl here says 5 crores, 10 crores. Okay, let us think it will cost 50 crores. A few days ago, Narendra Modi waived off  One Lakh 30 thousand crores tax for India’s richest businessmen. You people live in the dirt. And those rich men live in luxurious buildings and travel in aeroplanes using your money.”  Rahul Gandhi never stated anything about unemployment while talking about eagles or dirt at the rally in Delhi’s Kondli.
To sum it up, edited video clips were shared as the visuals of Rahul Gandhi’s absurd statements about the fertility rate in Uttar Pradesh and unemployment.


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Edited video falsely shared as Alia Bhatt endorsing Priyanka Gandhi’s manifesto promise to distribute free scooters - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 27, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt endorsing Congress National General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s new manifesto promise to distribute free scooters to girls in UP. This video shows Alia Bhat stating, “प्रियंका दीदी ने स्कूटी देने का वाधा किया ह। कुछ दिन में हम भी अपनी स्कूटी चलाएंगे” (when translated to English: Priyanka sister promised us free scooty. In a few days, I will also ride my own scooty). On 21 October 2021, Priyanka Gandhi announced the Congress Party manifesto for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022. As part of the election manifesto, Priyanka Gandhi promised free smartphones and electric scooters to girls. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Alia Bhatt endorsing Priyanka Gandhi’s manifesto promise to distribute free scooters to girls in UP.
Fact: The video shows an edited version of the ‘Hero Pleasure Plus’ advertisement that was made in 2019. In the original video, Alia Bhatt explained the advanced features of the new Hero Pleasure Plus scooter. This video was created by editing the audio clip of the original Hero Pleasure Plus advertisement. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE
On observing carefully, we could observe that there is no lip-sync in the viral video. On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, it is found out that the video shared in the post shows the ‘Hero Pleasure Plus’ advertisement that was released in 2019. A video with similar visuals was published on the ‘Hero Motor Corporation Limited’ official YouTube channel on 16 August 2019. In the original advertisement video, Alia Bhatt explained the new advanced features of the Hero Pleasure Plus scooter.  Alia Bhatt never mentioned anything about Priyanka Gandhi or any free scooty scheme in the original advertisement video.
‘Hero Motor Corporation Limited’ had tweeted the same advertisement video on  27 August 2019. The video shared in the post was created by editing the audio clip of this original advertisement. On the posted video, we could see a ‘आ रही है कांग्रेस’ logo on the top-right side of the video. It is found out that a Facebook page named ‘आ रही है कांग्रेस’ had first published this edited version of the video on 22 October 2021.
An exciting blend of bold new style and zippy performance, the new Hero Pleasure⁺ comes with a retro flavor in its compact design, a powerful 110cc engine and is fully loaded with features. #HeroPleasure #HeroPleasurePlus #WhyShouldBoysHaveAllTheFun pic.twitter.com/YytCXqLYnn
To sum it up, an edited version of the ‘Hero Pleasure Plus 2019’ advertisement video is falsely shared as Alia Bhatt endorsing Priyanka Gandhi’s manifesto promise of distributing free electric scooters to girls in UP.

created: October 27, 2021


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Edited video falsely shared as Badruddin Ajmal saying India will become an Islamic nation - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 11, 2021
A video is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows All India United Democratic Front  (AIUDF) party President and Lok Sabha MP Maulana Badruddin Ajmal saying that India will become an Islamic nation in the future. In the posted video, it can be seen that he says– ‘Mughals ruled Bharath for 800 years. This country will be an Islamic nation…. In the whole nation, there would not have been a single Hindu. Everyone will be converted to Muslim’ (English Translation). Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of AIUDF chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal saying that India will become an Islamic nation in the future.
Fact: It is an edited video. The clips from the original video are arranged in such a manner that it conveys the wrong message. In the original video, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal says – ‘You guys know that this country INDIA is ruled by Mughal emperors for about 800years, but they didn’t’ dare to make INDIA an Islamic country……’ (English translation). Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched on the internet about the incident in the video, it was found that Dr. Hafiz Rafiqul Islam, an MLA belonging to the AIDUF party, has already clarified regarding the viral video. He tweeted the original video and wrote – ‘Here’s the original video from where parts are clipped to make the doctored one’. Also, the longer version of the video was uploaded on YouTube in April 2019 with the title – ‘Maulana Badruddin Ajmal speech at Barpeta [ Sharukhatri Samasti #kayakuchi] M.P Election 2019’.
Several media outlets including @NewsLiveGhy, @DY365 along with right wing groups have been sharing a doctored video of Honourable @BadruddinAjmal Sahab, clearly with a vested agenda. Here’s the original video from where parts are clipped to make the doctored one pic.twitter.com/DVck0wE4kD
In the original video, it can be seen that Maulana Badruddin Ajmal says – ‘You guys know that this country INDIA is ruled by Mughal emperors for about 800years, but they didn’t’ dare to make INDIA an Islamic country but if they thought of doing so, they can do it very easily in that 800 years, there would be no Hindus. Did they do that? (Everyone chanting ‘no’.) So, they didn’t try because they don’t have that courage.’ (English translation). He also went on to say that neither British tried to make India a Christian country nor Congress dreamt of making India a Hindu Rashtra. The clips from the original video are arranged in such a manner that it conveys the wrong message.
Also, ANI has reported that while clarifying on the viral video, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal said – ‘This is 100% fake…..If you see the actual video you’ll find that I was asking people that when Himanta Biswa Sarma called me Mughal, I had said that Mughals ruled India for 800 years but did they even think of making India an Islamic state? People said ‘No’”. The press conference of Maulana Badruddin Ajmal on this issue can be seen here.
AIUDF Chief @BadruddinAjmal Sahab addressing the media persons on the doctored video which is being circulated to create communal divisions in the state. pic.twitter.com/9RXOlWOmkH
Some of the controversial statements made by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal in the past can be read here, here, and here.
To sum it up, an edited video is falsely shared as Badruddin Ajmal saying India will become an Islamic nation.


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Edited video falsely shared as visuals of MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan raising his voice against Narendra Modi government - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 27, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan raising his voice against the increasing prices of essential commodities under the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government. This video shows CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other BJP leaders chanting the famous ‘Mehngai Dayain Khaye Jaat Hai’ song from the ‘Peepli Live’ movie. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan raising his voice against the rising inflation under Narendra Modi-led BJP government.
Fact: The video shared in the post is an edited one. The original video shows Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other BJP leaders singing “Gopala Jai Jai. Govind Jai Jai” chants at a temple in Panna. This video was shot on 20 October 2021, when Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended the International ‘Sharad Purnima’ festival in Panna. Shivraj Singh Chouhan has not made any statement recently against the rising  prices of essential commodities. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE
On reverse image search of the screenshots with appropriate keywords, a video with similar visuals was found published on the ‘News 24 Madhya Pradesh’ YouTube channel, on 21 October 2021. This video reported it as the visuals of Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan performing Bhajans on the occasion of the ‘Sharadh Purnima’ festival in Panna, Madhya Pradesh. The original video shows Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other BJP leaders chanting “Gopala Jai Jai. Govind Jai Jai” chants in a temple. A few media channels have also published this original bhajan video of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. They can be seen here and here.
On 20 October 2021, Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended the International Sharad Purnima festival held at Panna city in Madhya Pradesh. As part of the ‘Sharad Purnima’ festival, Shivraj Chouhan reportedly visited several temples in Panna and performed Bhajana along with other BJP leaders. Reporting this information, several news websites published articles. They can be seen here and here.
When this doctored video was falsely shared as the visuals of Shivraj Singh Chouhan raising his voice against Narendra Modi, BJP district media in-charge Shrikant Jain tweeted the original video on 22 October 2021. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has not made any statement accusing Narendra Modi of increasing prices of essential commodities in the country.
!!प्राचीन काल से ही राक्षसों द्वारा ईश्वर की भक्ति में व्यवधान डाला जाता रहा है!!
आज #एडिटिंग के माध्यम से विपक्ष भलीभांति इस भूमिका का निर्वाहन कर रहा है !
"यह है ओरिजनल वीडियो जिसे एडिट किया गया" @BJP4MP pic.twitter.com/VXC5NqPLyD
To sum it up, an edited video is falsely shared as the visuals of Shivraj Singh Chouhan raising his voice against Narendra Modi.


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Edited clip from a movie is wrongly shared as the video of World’s first train - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 28, 2021
A video accompanying a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that it shows the World’s first train that ran on 24 December 1809. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of World’s first train which ran on 24 December 1809.
Fact: This Video is actually from a silent movie ‘Our Hospitality’ (1923) which is a period comedy, set in the 1830s. The movie includes Keaton’s extended journey on a vintage train from that era. The first steam locomotive put on rails was on 21 February 1804 by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) and, Stockton and Darlington Railway was the first public passenger steam train which ran on 27 September 1825. It is also quite improbable that a video/film were taken in 1809, because the first film was shot in Leeds in 1888. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search was done on the screenshots of the video, a blog published on 11 April 2018 was found. The caption in one of the images that matches the screenshots of the video is read as ‘The replica of Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ locomotive, piloted by Buster’s father Joe Keaton in ‘Our Hospitality.’ According to the Blog, ‘Our Hospitality,’ (1923) a period comedy set in the 1830s, tells the story of a young man (Buster Keaton) raised in New York City but unknowingly at the centre of a long-running backwoods family feud, highlights of the picture include Keaton’s extended journey on a vintage train of the era. According to another blog, Our Hospitality (1923) was the first of Buster Keaton’s 1920s silent comedy masterpieces; images in this blog and the screenshots of the video match each other.
Taking cue from the blog articles that this could be a scene from the movie ‘Our Hospitality’ (1923), we searched for the movie and found a YouTube video uploaded by a channel named ‘trelosfilosofos’. The video is titled, ‘Buster Keaton – Our Hospitality 1923 (Full Movie)’. It can be seen from the video that some parts of the movie have been edited to make the video and all the visuals have been picked up from the movie.
Richard Trevithick (1771-1833), was the man who first put steam engines on rails. On 21 February 1804, Trevithick’s pioneering engine hauled 10 tons of iron and 70 men nearly 10 miles from Penydarren, at a speed of 5 miles-per-hour, according to this article. Stockton and Darlington Railway in England was the first public passenger steam train which ran on 27 September 1825 from Darlington to Stockton, according to articles that can be found here and here. The replica shown in ‘Our Hospitality’ was an 1830 George Stephenson’s locomotive named ‘Rocket’. Therefore, it is not possible for world’s first train to have been started in 1809.
It is also quite improbable that a video/film was taken in 1809, because the first film was actually shot in Leeds in 1888 by Louis Le Prince, according to this BBC article. According to Guiness World Records, the earliest surviving film (sensitized 53.9mm (21/8in) wide paper roll) is from the camera of Louis Aime Augustin Le Prince (UK), who filmed in early October 1888 the garden of his father-in-law, Joseph Whitley in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK at 10 to 12 frames per second.
To sum it up, edited clip from a movie is wrongly shared as the video of world’s first train.


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Edited video is being shared as visuals of roads from Shanghai, China - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 6, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the visuals in the video are from Shanghai, China. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of roads in Shanghai, China.
Fact: The video had been edited. The same intersection had been replicated several times with a few seconds time delay and these were integrated to make the video. The video has the exact same vehicles in the same formation each step down. The visuals of the Nanpu Bridge in Shanghai look similar to the video but the Bridge has only one ringed-lane. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the video is closely observed, the same intersection had been replicated several times with a few seconds time delay and these were integrated to make the video. One needs to pay attention to the repeating concentric patterns and the cars moving in unison. The whole video looks like an overlapping loop.
The green truck on the second and fourth ring move in unison and look the same, moving in the same direction.
The yellow car and the red truck in the third ring had been replicated at least three times in the video.
The video has been edited as one can see the exact same vehicles in the same formation each step-down. Every other path over the first ring has the cars driving in the exact same formation; and the cars seem to be of the exact same shape and colour.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, there are similar videos (here and here) online which are being shared as though they are from Shanghai’s Nanpu Bridge. These are being widely shared on TikTok, which found their way into other social media platforms. The exact source of the viral video could not be found. However, there is an article which says that ‘special effects of Shanghai Nanpu Bridge became popular on TikTok’ and that those videos are being viewed by millions of users.
A YouTube video of Shanghai Nanpu Bridge had similar visuals when compared to the viral video, but the actual Bridge doesn’t have so many ringed-lanes.
The Nanpu Bridge is one of the main bridges of Shanghai which links it with the Pudong district across the river Huangpu. ‘The bridge’s special design and location also make it an attraction for locals and travellers, even more spectacular by night.’ Images of Nanpu bridge can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, this video being shared as the roads from Shanghai, China had been edited.

created: September 6, 2021


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Edited video of a man falling into a water pit and disappearing is being shared as a real video - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 14, 2022
A video of a man who is  walking in the rain with an umbrella, and suddenly falling into a water pit and disappearing is widely being shared on social media. Through this article, let’s see how authentic the content of the video is.
Claim: Incident of a man falling into a water pit and disappearing.
Fact: This is a staged video created by an Indonesian VFX artist, Faisal. He uploads such scripted VFX videos to his Instagram account @faisal_vfx. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Using a few video frames, we did a reverse image search on the internet  and were led to an Instagram account. It is the account of an Instagram user named Faisal_VFX,  He uploaded the original video to his Instagram account on 08 September 2020. The post’s description is in Indonesian and translates to, “If it rains, be careful on the road, guys, there are lots of puddles, especially the past puddles.”
Faisal is a video creator, and he creates many such VFX videos for his Instagram page and YouTube channel.
A few things in the video giveaway that it has been edited and contains VFX elements.
1. A-frame to-frame breakdown of the video at 3:00 after the umbrella drops from his hand reveals that only a single still was animated till his body gets wholly submerged into the water. If we observe the frames, his right hand is in the same position till the end.
2. In the video, it almost seems like the person is willingly dropping  the umbrella.
3. Another question is why didn’t the camera person try to help the man? Instead, he/she did not even flinch and kept recording for 13 more seconds after the man falls into the pit.
Since 2020, Faisal’s scripted & animated video has been uploaded by various YouTube channels too, and it is usually shared during the monsoons to caution people. Those videos can be watched here, here and here.
To sum it up, an edited video is being shared as an original incident of a man falling into a water pit and disappearing.


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Edited Videos of Aamir Khan Circulated as him promoting Congress Manifesto and Cautioning Against 'Jumlas' - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 17, 2024
Update (17 April 2024):
Another video (here & here) featuring Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is circulating online, wherein he appears to be cautioning individuals about falling for false political promises, or ‘jumlas,’ and endorsing the Congress party’s 2024 election manifesto, ‘Nyay Patra.’ Let’s verify the authenticity of the video.
A reverse image search of the viral video has led us to the original video (archive) published on the official YouTube channel of ‘Satyamev Jayate’ on 30 August 2016. In this video, Khan can be seen talking about the telecast dates of the second season of the ‘Satyamev Jayate’ show. He didn’t mention any political manifestos or false promises made by parties. This evidence suggests that the audio in the viral video was manipulated with a fake voice-over, implying that Aamir Khan was endorsing the Congress party by warning against false promises made by rival parties.
Published (16 April 2024):
A video (here, here and here) featuring Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is circulating online where he appears to be warning individuals about falling for false political promises, or ‘jumlas’. The clip has been widely shared on social media. We fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: A video shows Aamir Khan cautioning people about ‘Jumlevaad’ or false political promises.
Fact: The video in question is an edited version of a promo for Aamir Khan’s TV show Satyameva Jayate. The actor has not made the alleged statement in the video. The original footage has been manipulated with a dubbed voice-over to create the false impression of Khan warning against false promises. Hence, the claim made in the post is rated as False.
Our investigation began by identifying the theme music of Aamir Khan’s well-known TV show Satyameva Jayate, which can be heard at the end of the shared video. This hint led us to the official YouTube channel of Satyameva Jayate, where we discovered (archive link) the original, unedited version of the clip being circulated.
The footage is a 36-second promo video for the fourth episode of Satyamev Jayate, titled ‘Satyamev Jayate Ep 4 Promo – Each Indian is entitled to one crore!’ In the full video, Khan does not mention the figure of ’15 Lakhs’ or ‘jumlas’ at any point, directly contradicting the claims made in the edited video. This evidence suggests that the viral video was manipulated with some other voice-over to falsely indicate Aamir Khan warning against false promises.
To validate our findings, we conducted an additional keyword search to see if Aamir Khan had recently made any public statements referring to ‘jumlas.’ Our search yielded no such information, further supporting the conclusion that the viral video is false. Moreover, we found news reports (here, here, and here) that said that Aamir Khan’s team had released a statement regarding this video, clarifying that it was fake. They even said that Aamir Khan had filed an FIR with the Cybel Cell of the Mumbai Police.
To sum up, the video claiming to show Aamir Khan cautioning people about ‘jumlas’ or false promises is a doctored version of a Satyameva Jayate promo.


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This video of an eagle diving close to a swimmer is digitally altered - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 24, 2023
A social media post shares a video clip where an eagle swoops closer to a person swimming in a water body. The post description reads, ‘Sometimes you’re watched over & looked after without even realizing how blessed & fortunate you are…We need to feel gratitude for every day that seems just ‘normal,‘. Let’s fact-check if the video is real or not through this article.
Claim Visuals of an eagle diving dangerously close to a swimmer before it flies away.
Fact:  This is a digitally created video. The portion of the eagle is a stock green screen clip of an eagle flying. A few parts of the video contain a green screen spill on the edges of the eagle’s body. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We performed a reverse image search on Yandex using a few screenshots from the video. This led us to a YouTube post from November 2022 containing the same video with a different audio track. Titled ‘Eagle attack man,’ this video was uploaded by a YouTube channel named ‘PakForecaster.’There was nothing written about the incident or the video in the description. A clearer version of the video is available here.
In the comments under the viral post, a few social media users have expressed that the video looks fake or that it might be produced using VFX. Taking this as a hint, we inspected the footage closely and found green screen spill and smudges on the edges of the eagle’s body (behind its wings when the water appears in the background). Simply put, a green screen is used in the background of a subject (which is in the foreground) that is being captured on video to later use a technique called chroma keying in video editing software to remove the green background and make it transparent. Another video or an image can be used to fill that transparent area (layer). Green screen spill refers to ‘…the coloured light that reflects back onto your subject from the green screen. When a green screen is brightly lit, the light can reflect that colour back onto your subject, casting unwanted green light. This can cause an issue in the keying stage.’ (read here and here)
We looked for eagle flying stock green screen footage and found the same in a YouTube video. You can find the similarities between the viral clip and this green screen footage in the following side-by-side comparison. The viral video is created using this green screen stock video and some other video clip of a person swimming in waters. We could not, however, find the clip of the swimmer.
To sum up, this video of an eagle diving closer to a swimmer is digitally edited.

created: January 24, 2023


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Edited video of Islamic flag in sky shared as real incident of prophet’s name appearing in Kashmir’s sky - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 5, 2023
Video of birds flying around an Islamic flag in the sky is being widely shared on social media claiming that Prophet Muhammad’s name appeared in sky somewhere in Kashmir. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Islamic flag with prophet’s name appeared in the sky somewhere in Kashmir.
Fact: This is an edited video. YouTube greenscreen clips of flying birds and Islamic flag are inserted into this video. No such real incident was reported anywhere in Kashmir. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon careful observation, we found that the visuals of flying birds and the flag appear abruptly in the video. This indicates that the visuals of flying birds and flag are inserted into this video.
Taking a cue from this, we searched for the visuals of flying birds and Islamic flag on YouTube and found several green screen videos of birds flying and Islamic flags. Among them, we found two videos — one shows birds flying randomly and another is an illustration of a waving Islamic flag—matching the visuals in the viral video.
Several kinds of greenscreen clips are readily available on the internet for editing purposes. These clips can be easily inserted into other videos to create visual effects. A quick demonstration showing how the viral video was created can be seen here. Also, journalists from Kashmir called it as fake video and urged users not to share misinformation online.
To sum it up, digitally altered video of Islamic flag in the sky shared as real incident of prophet’s name appearing in Kashmir’s sky.

created: January 5, 2023


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Edited video of Modi clapping on the launch of Chandrayaan-2 shared as the one during Chidambaram’s arrest - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 23, 2019
A video in which Modi can be seen clapping after watching Chidambaram getting arrested is being shared on social media. Let’s try to check the authenticity of the video in the post.
Video of Modi clapping while watching Chidambaram getting arrested.
Fact: It is an edited video. In the original video, it can be seen that Modi was watching and clapping during the live telecast of the launch of Chandrayaan-2 by ISRO. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the screenshots of the video were run through Google Reverse Image Search, it was found that a similar video was tweeted by ‘ANI’ on July 22, 2019 with a description: ‘#WATCH Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the live telecast of #Chandrayaan2 launch by ISRO, at 2:43 pm today. (Earlier visuals)”. In the video, it can be seen that Modi was clapping after the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2. The Chandrayaan-2 launch visuals coming on television in the original video have been edited to show the visuals of Chidambaram’s arrest.
#WATCH Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the live telecast of #Chandrayaan2 launch by ISRO, at 2:43 pm today. (Earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/drh8o4oTWj
To sum it up, it is an edited video. Modi was clapping on the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2, not on Chidambaram’s arrest.
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Edited Videos Shared as visuals of PM Modi Watching Bageshwar Dham Sarkar and Aniruddhacharya’s speeches - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 8, 2024
Update (08 February 2024):
Another video is being shared on social media claiming it shows visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi watching a scene from a film on Television. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found tweeted by ‘ANI’ on 22 July 2019, with the description: ‘#WATCH Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the live telecast of #Chandrayaan2 launch by ISRO, at 2:43 pm today. (Earlier visuals)”. In the video, Modi was seen clapping after the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2. This video was edited to make it look like PM Modi was watching a film on TV.
#WATCH Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the live telecast of #Chandrayaan2 launch by ISRO, at 2:43 pm today. (Earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/drh8o4oTWj
Update (03 July 2023):
Another video is being shared on social media claiming it shows visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi watching a speech of Aniruddhacharya on television. In the video, Aniruddhacharya outlines his top three priorities for national development if he would become the Prime Minister of the Country. These key priorities encompass establishing “One Nation One Education,” enhancing medical infrastructure, and implementing the interlinking of rivers.
However, the video shared in the post is an edited one. The original video shows PM Modi along with Home Minister Amit Shah and other government officials reviewing the situation in relation to the recent Balasore train accident.
Update (07 June 2023):
Another video is also being shared on social media claiming it is the visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi attentively listening to Bageshwar Dham Sarkar’s Ram Katha on television. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
However, the video shared in the post is an edited one. The original video shared in the post shows Narendra Modi along with Amit Shah and other government officials reviewing the situation in relation to the recent Balasore train accident. On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found in a tweet by ‘ANI’ with the description, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a high-level meeting to review the situation in relation to the #BalasoreTrainAccident.” Sharing the same photo, several news websites published articles recently. They can be seen here, here, and here.
Published (06 June 2023):
A video is being shared on social media claiming it is the recent visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi attentively listening to a story of Bageshwar Dham Sarkar. The video shows Narendra Modi watching a speech of Bageshwar Dham Sarkar on television. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Narendra Modi listening to a story of Bageshwar Dham Sarkar on television.
Fact: The video shared in the post is an edited one. The original video shows Narendra Modi watching the live telecast of the Chandrayaan-2 by ISRO in July 2019. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found tweeted by ‘ANI’ on 22 July 2019, with the description: ‘#WATCH Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the live telecast of #Chandrayaan2 launch by ISRO, at 2:43 pm today. (Earlier visuals)”. In the video, it can be seen that Modi was clapping after the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2.
#WATCH Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the live telecast of #Chandrayaan2 launch by ISRO, at 2:43 pm today. (Earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/drh8o4oTWj
On comparing the visuals of the video tweeted by ‘ANI’ with that of the video shared in the post, it is confirmed that the Chandrayaan-2 launch visuals on television in the original video have been edited to show the visuals of Bageshwar Dham Sarkar.
Earlier, when the same video was shared as the visuals of Narendra Modi watching Ramayana and Congress leader Chidambaram’s arrest, Factly published fact-check articles debunking those claims. They can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, an edited video of Narendra Modi watching the launch of Chandrayan-2 was shared as him watching the speech of Bageshwar Dham Sarkar.

created: February 8, 2024