Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
If you have access to the internet, you would have already come across several conspiracy theories around the coronavirus. What if these conspiracy theories go mainstream? In Mumbai, pamphlets with an example of one such theory were inserted in newspapers and distributed in the city.
Where did the Pamphlet come from?
On the pamphlet uploaded with the above tweet, we noticed a website mentioned in the bottom right corner.
On visiting the website mentioned above (anarchyforfreedom.com) we found the same pamphlet published here.
What is “Anarchy for Freedom” and who is its founder?
The landing page of the website reads, “WELCOME TO INDIA’S HOME FOR CONSPIRACY RESEARCH & FREE THINKING.” It also includes a section which lists problems categorised under COVID-19, Politics, and Science among others. Adjacent to this, another section on solutions is also listed. The pamphlet in context was found under Problems >> COVID19.
This website has been known to proactively spread coronavirus-related misinformation. Many of the hoaxes listed have been debunked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Newschecker.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters
We noticed that the website is provoking its visitors against the use of masks. The conspiracy against the use of masks during the ongoing pandemic has been debunked by the WHO.
More such conspiracy theories and interviews can be found on Anarchy for Freedom’s official Facebook page, Twitter handle, YouTube channel, and their Instagram account.
To know more about how the website functions, we checked its details on Who.is. According to details registered here, the website registrant’s name is “Super Privacy Service LTD c/o Dynadot” and the email address is “anarchyforfreedom.com@superprivacyservice.com”
When we searched the registrant’s details on Google, we found that it is a registered company which provides secure domains to its clients.
Note that details of the domains which are secured by third-party service providers are not revealed by Who.is. We checked contact details of the website and found an email ID that reads “yohan@anarchyforfreedom.in”. We did a Google search of the email address and found multiple articles on various portals which indicate that the website is run by a person named Yohan Tengra.
Who is Yohan Tengra?
During our search, we came across a blog by Tengra’s mother Nainaz Tengra on steemit.com. In her blog, she introduces him to the platform. Talking about her son’s work she writes:
“He is into Radical Journalism, talking and exposing the classified information of the Big Organizations, Bodies, Governments, Health and Pharma, Child Trafficking and Abuse, The Vaccination system and a lot more. If you want to know what’s actually happening in the world as compared to what’s portrayed to us by our governments or media, rather paid media and as individuals how our minds have been conditioned into a grind wherein we’re constantly ignorant to a lot that’s happening around us you can follow his website which gives a clear clarity along with supporting videos and interviews.”
As per Tengra’s mother’s description, he exposes various governments, corporate companies, and others. Through a Google search of his name, we found his profile on various social media platforms. Additionally on his YouTube channel, it said that he attended Saint Mary’s school from 2011-2012.
We also checked Tengra’s LinkedIn profile, which says that he graduated with a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance (BAF) from Kishinchand Chellaram College of Arts and Commerce, Mumbai in 2017.
His Twitter account shows that he is passionate about Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and has worked as a DJ for several organisations. The same can be found here. Through a Twitter Advanced Search, we found that Tengra performed as a DJ for FullStopEnt in 2015.
Further, Tengra has been associated with The Music Essentials since 2015 and has been writing about music fests for them.
https://themusicessentials.com/artists/review-ultra-resistance-around-the-world-with-nic-fanciuilli/
Interestingly, we also found that Tengra has met with several conspiracy theory believers and alleged ‘free thinkers’ such as David Icke.
In a video published by Anarchy For Freedom’s official YouTube channel, Tengra has briefly described his work on hidden knowledge, source of knowledge, his contacts, his reasons for believing in these conspiracies, his ideals and so on. He also mentioned his reason for founding Anarchy for Freedom.
Anarchy For Freedom Or Conspiracy Theories? Partners In Crime
On going through videos published on the YouTube channels, we found a series of interviews, podcasts, and discussions where alleged “experts” expressed their views on conspiracy theories propagated by Anarchy for Freedom and others alike. These alleged “experts” are Derrick Broze, Dr Madhusudan Raj, Judith Kwoba, Mark Friesen, Virendra Singh, Jagannath Chatterjee, Ashok Patel and Dr Tarun Kothari.
We further looked for more information on other people associated with this organisation. Twitter users: Vivek, Indian Liberty Report, Delta Exchange – Bitcoin & Altcoin Derivatives, Activist Post, Madhusudan Raj, and Rusty, among others were promoting and interviewing Yohan Tengra of Anarchy for Freedom.
We also found that Tengra has been interviewed by several portals and vloggers. A few of them can be read below.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=yohan+tengra
Yohan Tengra: Fresh Destructive Ideas
Tengra’s Twitter account reflects that he has been actively campaigning for various causes such as #BoycottZomato, #FreeRoss, #IStandWithDrBob #LetOrganicGrow #LegaliseBitcoins #saveGaza #AadharSpies and AntiFa. For example, Tengra posted multiple tweets aiming to boycott Zomato.
Apart from this, other tweets by Tengra imply his interest in conspiracy theories, bitcoins, social causes, among other subjects.
Twitter Deletes Posts After Being Notified By Newschecker
On coming across tweets which included the pamphlets in context, we wrote to Twitter about deleting the same to prevent further circulation of this conspiracy theory. Twitter immediately deleted them.
Archived version of the deleted tweets can be viewed here: https://archive.vn/EO1BD
Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
