Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Last week saw a major standoff unfold between India and Canada, with Justin Trudeau making a statement about ‘credible allegations’ that India was somehow involved in the murder of the Khalistani sympathiser Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey. The announcement in the Canada triggered a sudden burst of online conversation around Canada and Khalistan, and needless to say, a lot of misinformation entered the chatter, including mainstream media. That and much more, here’s a look at all that Newschecker debunked this week.
ANI claims Canada Issued Travel Advisory Urging ‘High Degree Of Caution’ While Traveling To India, Canadian Embassy Refutes ‘News’
In wake of the India-Canada standoff, Indian news agency ANI, has shared a post on social media platform X, on September 19, 2023, claiming that the Canadian government has issued a fresh travel advisory to its citizens travelling to India, warning of the ‘unpredicatable situation in Jammu and Kashmir’, highlighting “terrorism, militancy, civil unrest and kidnapping”. The agency also published a news item on its website carrying the same claim. But our investigation revealed that the claim is false and that the information has been unchanged since July 2021. Read more here.
Virat Kohli Rested To Preserve Tendulkar’s Legacy?
Virat Kohli had scored his 47th century in One-Day Internationals against Pakistan in the recently held Asia Cup. Kohli is now just two short of trying Sachin Tendulkar for the most ODI centuries. Amid all these a viral post claims that former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist has said that- “Kohli is being rested on a regular basis these days, I think they want Sachin’s record to be unbeaten.” Many others also attributed the viral claim to South African cricketer AB De Villiers. But both cricketers have denied that either of them had made such a statement. Read full fact check here.
Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter acted in ‘Omkara’, Claims Viral Social Media Post
A social media post taking aim at the family of former Chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti has gone viral on social media. The viral X post claims that Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Irtiqa Mufti was a Bollywood actor, and featured in the film Omkara while her other daughter Iltija got a job in London as an IFS officer, through backdoor channels. But the former CM and the PDP leader herself clarified that neither has her eldest daughter acted in any Bollywood film, nor has her younger daughter left Srinagar since 2015, and is certainly not an IFS officer.
Debunked: Unrelated Video Shared To Claim Harmful Effects Of Excessive Use Of Mobile Phone
Several social media users are sharing a video showing a child in various stages of degeneration, from healthy to bedridden, claiming to show a vicitm of over exposure to mobile phone. The video however, was found to show Ammar Ibad, the 8-yer-old son of PTI ticket holder Mian Ibad Farooq, who passed away due to a neuro degenerative disease. Read more here.
Video Of 2021 Club Brawl Falsely Linked To Italy Migrant Crisis
Several social media users are circulating a video of a purported clash between police and civilians, claiming that the incident is from Lampedusa, a small Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, where illegal migrants are fighting with the police and the local residents, demanding to be allowed into Europe. However, the video was found to be from a brawl outside a nightclub in Marotta, Italy, in 2021. Read full report here.
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 out the form. Please follow us on WhatsApp.
Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
