Fact Check: Social media users sharing satire reports as true

Vishvas News (New Delhi). A screenshot of a report is being shared on social media with the claim that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has taken an important decision to end the Karnataka hijab controversy. The news in the screenshot reads that CM Yogi has decided to produce saffron hijab in the state. It has been further told in the news that the government says that by doing this the problems on both sides will be resolved.

The viral claim turned out to be fake in the investigation of Vishvas News. The viral post is a satire and not truth. Vishvas News found in its investigation that this is not a real incident, but a screenshot of a fictional article written for the purpose of humour. This article was published on a website named ‘The Foxy’. This website only publishes fictional and satirical stories.

What’s in the viral post?

Sharing the viral screenshot, Facebook user Thakur Pushpendra Jadoun wrote that ‘Baba ji has solved the problem. Saffron will wave, Jai Ho Yogi Maharaj.’

The archived version of the post can be viewed here. Users are also sharing this claim on Twitter.

Investigation 

To know the veracity of the viral claim, we searched the screenshot through Google reverse image. We found the original report on The Foxy’s website published on February 14, 2022. We came to know that this article is a fictional article written for the purpose of humor.

Continuing the investigation, Vishvas News started scanning The Foxy’s website. On perusing the About us section of the website, we found that “The Foxy is a satirical web portal. All news and reports published on this website are written for entertainment purposes only. There is no truth in any of these. Do not take the articles written by the website as true.”

We contacted UP BJP spokesperson Avneesh Tyagi regarding the viral screenshot. Describing this claim as fake, he termed it as propaganda against BJP and Yogi.

We contacted The Foxy via Twitter to confirm. The Foxy told us that all the reports published on their website are written for wit and entertainment. All posts are made for humor only and should not be taken seriously.

Vishvas News, in the last phase of the investigation, conducted a background check on the profile that shared the viral post. The user has more than three thousand five hundred friends on Facebook. Thakur Pushpendra Jadoun is a resident of Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. User is active on Facebook since August 2014.