Fact Check: This fake advertisement was not printed in the newspaper, viral post is fake

New Delhi (Vishvas News): Recently, the news of the coal crisis in the country made headlines in the media. Meanwhile, an advertisement in the name of Delhi government was seen going viral on social media. Sharing this, users are claiming that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has appealed to people to donate coal through this advertisement.

When Vishvas News investigated the viral post, the advertisement was found to be fake. No such advertisement was published in the newspaper by the Delhi government. Fake news purveyors created a fabricated advertisement by tampering with an advertisement of the Delhi Government published in the Hindustan newspaper on July 9, 2021.

Claim

A fake advertisement is going viral across social media. Twitter handle Shandilya Shivam Singh tweeted the fake advertisement on October 12, writing: ‘नयी दिल्ली में केजरीवाल की नई पहल। आपका दान में दिया गया एक तसला कोयला बदल सकता है दिल्ली वालों की जिंदगी। गुप्त दान महा दान।’

The archived version of the post can be viewed by clicking here.

Investigation

Vishvas News started investigating the viral advertisement by scanning it. We found two things worth noting in this viral post. The first is July 9, 2021, which was written under the masthead of the newspaper. The second thing is that satire was written in the top corner of the picture of Arvind Kejriwal at the bottom of the advertisement. It was clear that it was made as a satire, using the version of July 9 to make this advertisement, but it was shared on social media as a fake post.

Vishvas News started searching the Hindustan e-paper dated July 9th. We came across the original advertisement of Delhi Government here. In this, the information was given about ‘Chief Minister COVID-19 Family Financial Assistance Scheme’. This advertisement was edited and the words of coal donation were added to it. Watch the original ad here.

Vishvas News contacted HT Media Limited regarding the viral post. It was informed by the company’s Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Govind Vijay that some mischievous people have prepared this fake advertisement by tampering with the old advertisement printed in our newspaper. This fake advertisement was not published in Hindustan newspaper.

At the end of the investigation, we checked the user who shared the fake post. We came to know that the Twitter handle of Shandilya Shivam Singh is followed by more than 2000 people. The user is a resident of Bihar.