Fact Check: Viral Post Criticising PM Modi Was Shared From A Fake Account Impersonating Naseeruddin Shah

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A post from an X account criticising PM Modi is going viral. The account appears to belong to Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah, featuring his photo as the profile picture and using his name as the account username. Some users are sharing and commenting on it, believing it to be a post from actor Naseeruddin Shah.

Vishvas News’ investigation revealed that the viral post was made from a fake account impersonating Naseeruddin Shah. The actor is not present on the social media platform X. Additionally, the account does not comply with X’s guidelines for parody or fan accounts, which require a clear indication in both the account bio and account name that the account is not associated with Shah. Although the bio states that this account is not related to Naseeruddin Shah, the disclaimer is missing from the account name.

What is the viral post?

X user Naseeruddin Shah posted a screenshot (archive link) criticising PM Modi on November 3, 2024.

Facebook user Rajanish Kant shared a screenshot (archive link) of X-user Naseeruddin Shah’s post.

Investigation

To verify the viral post, we scanned the user account. The bio states that the account is not related to Naseeruddin Shah.

A news article published on NDTV India’s website on February 8, 2021, quoting PTI, reported that Naseeruddin Shah’s wife and actress Ratna Pathak Shah, confirmed he does not have a Twitter (now X) account. Ratna Pathak Shah made this statement following several posts about the farmers’ movement from an account falsely attributed to the Bollywood actor.

We reached out to Dainik Jagran’s special correspondent Smita Srivastava in Mumbai, who confirmed that the post was made from a fake account impersonating Naseeruddin Shah.

Earlier also, a similar incident occurred with a fake account impersonating Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha, which users believed to be real. That report can be read here.

As per X’s Help Center, accounts such as satire or parody may use another person’s identity but must clearly indicate that the account is not affiliated with that person. Parody, commentary, and fan accounts are required to distinguish themselves in both the account name and bio to avoid confusion. The account name and bio must explicitly clarify that the account is not related to the person in the profile picture. Note that the account name is different from the username (@handle).

We scanned a fake account under the name of Naseeruddin Shah, created in February 2024, which is influenced by a specific ideology and is followed by 1524 users.