Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
Two weeks since its release, the ripple effect of ‘The Kashmir Files’- a movie based on the 1990 exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley-continues to impact social media platforms in India. In this backdrop, posts by a Twitter account ‘@ipallavijoshi’ allegedly associated with actress Pallavi Joshi, who portrayed a character called ‘Radhika Menon’ in the movie, is being widely retweeted, liked and commented on by the users. Newschecker found the account to be fake and not linked to Joshi.
With over 4,000 followers, the account claims to be “Only one official Twitter account,” of “Indian actress, writer, and film producer”. The account has been tweeting about The Kashmir Files, Kashmiri Pandits, The Kapil Sharma Show among others since March 21 mostly in Hindi.
One particular tweet about ‘The Ajmer Files’ has been retweeted over 5,700 times. A rough translation of the tweet reads, “A film THE AJMER FILES will also be made about the series of rape and murder of Hindu girls in the city. Nude pictures were posted around the city. Will bring the truth to the fore. Who will support??”
Who Is Pallavi Joshi?
Pallavi Joshi is a producer and actress, known for The Tashkent Files , Andhaa Yudh and Woh Chokri. She portrays the role of professor Radhika Menon who advocates ‘freedom of Kashmir’ and is also credited as one of the producers of The Kashmir Files. Joshi is married to Vivek Agnihotri -director of the film.
Also Read: Viral Video Of A Boy Beaten In UP For Raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ Slogans Is From 2021
Fact Check/Verification
While investigating whether ‘@ipallavijoshi’ is the official Twitter account of actress Pallavi Joshi, Newschecker found a tweet by Joshi’s husband and director Vivek Agnihotri clarifying that Joshi has no Twitter account. He wrote, “Just for records, Pallavi Joshi is not on Twitter. If you come across any impersonation, please report. Thanks,” in a post dated March 24, 2022.
We continued our investigation to find out who is the real handler of ‘@ipallavijoshi’, a Twitter account claiming to be associated with Pallavi Joshi and searched for its Twitter ID with the help of ‘Tweetbeaver’ tool. Every Twitter account has a unique id that can be traced through this tool. We found the Twitter ID associated with the account to be ‘1440703746065928205.’
We further looked up Twitter id ‘1440703746065928205’ on Yandex and found it to be associated with Twitter account of one Sonali Singh (@iSinghSonali).
We gathered more information about this account with the help of a website called ‘Twicopy’ where certain Twitter data can be accessed. Sometimes, the website also collects information and history of Twitter accounts.
Though we were not able to find the account of ‘@iSinghSonali’ on Twitter, we managed to find some replies by other users to this account. Notably, the replies to tweets by any account can be accessed on Twitter even if the account has been deleted. We saw the account ‘@ipallavijoshi’ while searching for replies to ‘@iSinghSonali’.
When an account’s handle is changed, the new handle is often displayed in old replies as well. In this case, ‘ @iSinghSonali’ handle was changed to ‘@ipallavijoshi’ to mislead people into believing that it’s the official account of actress Pallavi Joshi.
Notably, even if you change the handle, the Twitter ID remains the same. Though the account handler changed its handle from ‘@iSinghSonali’ to ‘‘@ipallavijoshi’, the Twitter ID (1440703746065928205) remained the same.
We were able to retrieve the archive links of some tweets posted by ‘@iSinghSonali’. You can check them here and here.
Conclusion
We can conclude that the Twitter account ‘@ipallavijosh’ is not linked to actress Pallavi Joshi. Vivek Agnihotri has himself clarified that Joshi is not on Twitter.
Result: Imposter Content/False
Sources
Twitter Account Of Vivek Agnihotri
Online tool Tweetbeaver
If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.
Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
