Fake tweet shows News24 apologising and admitting it defamed Akhilesh Yadav at BJP’s behest

by Kinjal

A screenshot of an alleged tweet by news channel News24 is viral on social media. The tweet reads, “Mr Akhilesh Yadav, News24 made a mistake. We apologise for defaming you at the behest of the BJP”. The post also contains a screengrab of a News24 broadcast where the headline reads, “150 crore Piyush Jain is a member of BJP.”

Twitter user Rajesh SP shared the screengrab.

It is worth noting that Piyush Jain is a businessman from Kanpur. Rs. 200 crores of cash and other items were seized from his home during IT raids conducted on December 22-23 last year. Both the BJP and SP have been targeting one another since the news of the raid surfaced. However, there have been no reports confirming Jain’s political affiliations as of this writing.

Several Twitter users also amplified the tweet, with captions like, “BJP will soon be apologising to the whole country.”

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The screenshot is widespread on Facebook.

Fact-check

A closer look at the viral image is enough to confirm that it is fake. There are several inconsistencies that can be spotted here. The image below shows how the font of ‘News24’ in the caption is different from the rest of the text. There are also a few spelling errors.

Furthermore, there are various differences in the format of News24’s broadcast and the one seen in the viral image. The headline that appears below the ‘Breaking News’ text is white, whereas the one seen in the image in question is yellow.

In addition, the outlet itself clarified via its official Twitter handle that the viral tweet was fake.

To sum it up, a fake screenshot of a tweet attributed to News24 was circulated online to suggest that the channel apologised to Akhilesh Yadav for maligning his reputation at the behest of the BJP.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.