Twitter on Wednesday tagged as “manipulated media” an image posted by Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s information and technology department and co-in-charge of Bengal, while the farmers’ protest was snowballing in the capital.
Twitter’s action makes Malviya perhaps the primary Indian politician to be flagged for fake news and puts him within the unsavoury company of Donald Trump, many of whose tweets had been called out during the recent US presidential elections.
Malviya is accused of posting an edited video to suggest that a specific farmer wasn't
beaten, contrary to the impression left behind by a photograph tweeted
by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday. The purported full video showed a
blow from another officer landing on the farmer.On November 28, Malviya
had quoted a tweet by Rahul featuring a photograph showing a CRPF jawan
aiming a baton at an elderly farmer at Singhu on the Delhi-Haryana
border.
Rahul had tweeted: “It may be a
very sad photo. Our slogan was ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ but today PM
Modi’s arrogance made the jawan stand against the farmer. This is very
dangerous.”Malviya tweeted a clip showing an equivalent man running past the CRPF, where it's unclear whether any of their batons touched him. “Rahul Gandhi must be the foremost discredited Opposition leader India has seen during a long while ,” Malviya had posted above the clip.
Several
Twitter users later shared the full footage from Russia Today and Voice
of America that show state and central forces hitting several farmers,
including the farmer in the picture Rahul had tweeted.
The farmer was
identified as 57-year-old Sukhdev Singh from Kapurthala and interviewed
by the news website Boomlive. He has injuries on his forearm, back and
calf muscle.
Twitter said in a message to viewers: “The video of
police baton missing an elderly man during the farmers’ protest is
edited, according to BoomLive and AltNews. An image of a politician
at the farmers’ protest raising his baton to strike an elderly man went
viral after being captured by PTI photojournalist Ravi Choudhary.
“After being shared by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, BJP’s Amit Malviya responded with a brief edited video of the incident. Malviya’s edited video shows one officer with a baton missing the person within the viral image. However, BoomLive analysed a extended un-edited video which shows a second officer swinging his baton at the person . BoomLive has identified the farmer, who stated that he was hit and showed bruises he said were from the incident.”
Twitter
had first announced plans to call out fake news on its platform in
February but has started doing so in India now. The company has not
revealed whether Malviya is its first catch.
Malviya didn't answer a WhatsApp message from this newspaper seeking his comments on Twitter’s action.
(With input from news agency language) If you like this story, share it with a friend!
We are a non-profit organization. Help us financially to keep our journalism free from government and corporate pressure.
0 Comments