Fact-Check Trends: Karnataka Elections, Pakistan, AI and RBI among top misinformation trends in May
After the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections, several false and misleading claims related to the state are going viral on social media. The fact-check reports on these claims can be read in Vishvas News’ election fact-check.
- By: Abhishek Parashar
- Published: Jun 1, 2023 at 03:52 PM
- Updated: Jul 6, 2023 at 01:32 PM
The month of May saw several interesting trends in terms of fact check trends. The country witnessed various misinformation and propaganda campaigns through the Karnataka Assembly elections and even after the results were announced. On the international front, several misinformation trends were observed in connection with Imran Khan’s arrest in Pakistan and the ongoing political tussle.
Like in the month of April, artificial intelligence or AI was among some of the main emerging trends in May. On economic matters, a misleading claim regarding the decision to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes went viral on social media. Overall, the month of May saw mixed trends in misinformation, with false and misleading claims ranging from politics to the economy going viral.
Political Trends
Karnataka Assembly Elections were among the prominent political trends. The results of the elections held on May 10 were declared on May 13, following which many communal posts related to it went viral on social media and were shared with inflammatory claims.
The most talked about social media post was a photograph which claimed that Muslim supporters waved Pakistani flags in Bhatkal after Congress victory in Karnataka.
In our investigation, we found the claim of Pakistani flag being raised in Bhatkal to be false. The flag seen in the viral picture was the Islamic flag. While the alleged incident of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ sloganeering is related to Karnataka’s Belagavi district, the police is verifying the authenticity of the viral video. In this case, the police have registered a case against unknown people.
The fact check report on the viral claim can be read here.
The second prominent claim was a viral tweet about Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulating the Congress on its Karnataka victory, and claiming to strengthen Islam in India and Karnataka’s ‘sovereignty’ in connivance with the Congress and the SDPI. SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) is the political wing of banned Islamic organisation PFI (Popular Front of India).
In our investigation, this claim also turned out to be fake. It had been edited and shared with a misleading message. The PFI-backed Social Democratic Party of India could not even open its account in the recent Karnataka elections. The party contested on a total of 16 seats, out of which the party lost 15 seats. Congress formed the government on its own in Karnataka after winning a total of 135 out of 224 seats.
Another similar video, in which a child could be seen offering namaz in the middle of the road, was shared with a inflammatory message. The post claimed that after the victory of Congress in Karnataka, such a situation has arisen where a child can openly offer Namaz in the middle of the road.
In our investigation, this claim also turned out to be false. The viral video was from a city in the Gulf country of UAE.
After the Karnataka elections, a picture of Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge and DK Shivakumar went viral with pictures of Nehru and Edwina in the background. In our investigation, this claim also proved to be false and the viral picture turned out to be edited.
An interesting trend was observed in May, in which pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and pro-Congress users were seen competing with each other. Some users shared the edited picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Adani row while others shared the edited picture of Rahul Gandhi linking him to 2G scam and Bofors scam.
In our investigation, we found all these pictures to be fake and edited, and the fact-check report on these can be read here.
AI Related Trends
Looking at AI related trends, fake pictures of celebrities surfaced online with false claims. After the Pakistan Police arrested former PM Imran Khan, a photo of him went viral with the claim that it was the first picture after he was taken into custody. This photo was also used in several news reports.
However, this picture was not real and was prepared with the help of AI tool. The fact-check report on the said image of Imran Khan can be read here.
Images of Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk created by an AI tool were widely shared with the false claim. The fact-check report on these can be read here and here.
Entertainment Related Trends
A video of actor Hrithik Roshan went viral with the claim that he has supported Pakistan PM Imran Khan. We found this claim to be false in our investigation. The viral video turned out to be fake, and was edited with the aim to mislead people.
Many fake and misleading claims were also made regarding ‘The Kerala Story’. One of these claims was that this movie has been removed from theaters in Lulu Mall. We found this claim to be wrong in our investigation. Actually, this movie was not shown in Lulu Mall of Kerala, but was screened in the malls of Lucknow and Bangalore.
Another fake claim related to the same film was made about actress Devoleena Bhattacharjee. It was said that the actress later married a Muslim. In our investigation, this claim also turned out to be false. Devoleena Bhattacharjee actually had no role in ‘The Kerala Story’. Adah Sharma is the lead actor of this film.
Economic Trends
Looking at the trends related to economic matters, at the end of May, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to withdraw Rs 2000 notes from circulation under its clean note policy. Social media users started spreading this decision of RBI as second ‘demonetisation’ with the claim that now people will have to fill up a special form and provide identity proof to exchange the 2000 currency notes.
We found this claim to be misleading in our investigation. The claim of filling up the ‘slip for exchange’ form and giving identity proof during the exchange of Rs 2000 notes after RBI’s withdrawal from circulation turned out to be false. There is no need to fill any form or produce any identity proof to exchange Rs 2000 notes.
After the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections, several false and misleading claims related to the state are going viral on social media. The fact-check reports on these claims can be read in Vishvas News’ election fact-check.
Conclusion: After the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections, several false and misleading claims related to the state are going viral on social media. The fact-check reports on these claims can be read in Vishvas News’ election fact-check.
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