Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
Claim:
“I request the principal of Fergusson College to declare holidays till 31 March. Fergusson College is one of the most prestigious colleges of India and we cannot risk the future of our country”: Narendra Modi
Verification:
As many as 5,845 people have died across the world due to the deadly coronavirus so far. The total number of infections in mainland China stands at 80,813, including 3,000 deaths. In India, the Health and Family Welfare has said that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across India has surged to 107, including 17 foreign nationals. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the dreaded novel Coronavirus a pandemic.
In spite of factual information being disseminated by WHO and various government organizations, fear inducing messages, videos, and graphics are doing the rounds on social media.
Amid the scare of coronavirus, a screenshot of a tweet that makes it look like Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the tweet from his verified account is being widely circulated on various social media platforms and WhatsApp.
The screenshot of the tweet reads, “I request principal of Fergusson College to declare holidays till 31 March. Fergusson College is one of the most prestigious colleges of India and we cannot risk the future of our country”
Fact Check:
We analysed the screenshot of the tweet and found it to be photoshopped as it had discrepancies such as the font doesn’t match with the standard text font of Twitter. Secondly, the text color of the username of PM Narendra Modi doesn’t match with the standard color of Twitter. Also, we found that there were discrepancies in the date column of the viral tweet.
We also checked PM Narendra Modi’s Twitter timeline and found that he did not tweet the same on March 15, 2020.
With the help of relevant keywords search, we found an article published by Times of India. According to the report Fergusson College, Pune on Sunday fell victim to a fake tweet carrying the Prime Minister’s photo. The fake tweet spread confusion among its students, as many of them logged on to social media to check its authenticity.
The report also carried a statement by the principal of college, RS Pardeshi. He said, “We will sit with our IT team and dig into this matter. We will file a complaint with the cyber-crime police on Monday”.
Conclusion:
Newschecker fact-checked the claim and found that the tweet which is viral on Social Media claiming to be from Prime Minister Narendra Modi is actually a photoshopped tweet.
Sources
- Media Reports
- Google Search
Result: Misleading Content
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Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
