Compilation Archives - Page 2 of 3

Inside the secret world of Facebook groups offering fake Aadhaar cards

Pooja Chaudhuri9th August 20189th August 2018

“Fake Aadhaar available…Ib [Inbox] for deal,” reads one of the posts on a Facebook group “Help for Friends – Advertising Deals” or as its over 7,000 members call it “HFF”. HFF is…

Decoded: The business of Facebook pages – selling Modi, God, patriotism and more

Pooja Chaudhuri6th August 2018

Those of us even sparsely active on social media must have at some point of scrolling through an ocean of posts come across images of Indian army soldiers, with the…

July round-up: Misinformation weaponised to attack minorities

Arjun Sidharth2nd August 2018

The month of August saw the full range of misinformation and disinformation at play- fake quotations ascribed to public figures, photoshopped images targeting political leaders, misinformation with the objective of…

Prashant Patel Umrao and his countless trysts with misinformation

Pooja Chaudhuri18th July 20189th September 2021

“Avoid committing the mistake of posting fake content online to avoid losing credibility,” were the words of advice of BJP chief Amit Shah to his party’s “social media warriors” on June…

Hindu khatre mein hai? How the fake news ecosystem targets minorities to create a fear psychosis

Arjun Sidharth8th July 20189th July 2018

Social media has become a convenient medium for purveyors of misinformation. Fake news has grown manifold, a large proportion of which is dominated by information which is communal in nature…

A roundup of rumour-mongering on the ‘Tanvi Seth passport issue’

Pooja Chaudhuri6th July 20189th July 2018

On June 20, Tanvi Seth, in a series of tweets, informed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj that she and her husband were allegedly humiliated by Lucknow passport officer Vikas Mishra for…

Postcard ‘News’ – A mega factory of fake news that continues to spew venom

Arjun Sidharth6th July 20189th July 2018

Postcard News, synonymous with misinformation in the garb of news, continues to post with impunity content which is communal in nature, provocative in tone and mostly untrue. In 2017, Alt…

June round-up: Rampant child abduction rumours result in mob-lynching incidents across country

Arjun Sidharth3rd July 20189th July 2018

June turned out to be ominous insofar as the sinister impact of misinformation is concerned. Rumours of child abductors abounded in various states, shared via WhatsApp. The suspicion, mistrust and…

Facebook page ‘BJP All India’: Serial purveyor of fake news

Pooja Chaudhuri28th June 20189th July 2018

Hours after former president Pranab Mukherjee addressed RSS cadres at an event in Nagpur, a photoshopped image of him wearing the black RSS cap, with his arm lifted, began circulating…

May round-up: The undeniable link between fake news industry and elections

Alt News Desk9th June 20189th July 2018

May 2018 started off on a rather hilarious note for the fake news industry with multiple media organizations falling for a parody account of Tripura Chief Minister, Biplab Deb. But…

Compilation

Victim blaming on social media: How Shraddha murder case exposed the patriarchal core of Right Wing

YouTube fails to moderate scripted child-kidnapping videos stoking fear and making money