BJP MP and actor Paresh Rawal retweeted a purported newspaper clipping (archive) according to which an Indian politician was arrested in Boston airport for possession of drugs. The politician was a son for a former prime minister, claimed the alleged clipping dated ‘September 30, 2001’. At the time of writing this report, Rawal tweet was liked over 3,000 times and retweeted more than 1,300 times.
Well I know and all should know ! https://t.co/Q1intlelge
— Chowkidar Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) April 18, 2019
A previously debunked fake newspaper clipping
The newspaper clipping shared by Rawal is fake and was debunked by Alt News on April 17 when RBI director S Gurumurthy tweeted it. The clipping was created on a website fodey.com that gives one an option to write a story, give it a headline, name the newspaper and change the date.
The video below shows how a newspaper clipping can be generated on the website.
The dissemination of such misinformation, which has been proved false multiple times, is meant to wrongly shape the public opinion. Social media users should remain wary of accounts that frequently share misleading posts. BJP MP Paresh Rawal has been found circulating misinformation numerous times in the past – false statistics to show Modi govt better at combating terror in J&K, photoshopped tweet of Rahul Gandhi on fuel price rise.
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