Fake news is now an epidemic. Social media – especially Facebook and WhatsApp have made it really easy to spread false stories, rumours, doctored videos, photoshopped images and what not to make a figment of somebody else's imagination believable. We have no compunction about forwarding material that is alarming, entertaining, infuriating; even harmful. Our confirmation biases – where we are happy to interpret news to align with our beliefs and ideologies – just worsens the situation. Here are some top fake news stories of 2017. Did you fall for any of them?
Previously the streets of China were passed off as Ahmedabad's BSRTC lane. Now it was some other location being passed off as a “newly inaugurated Rajkot bus-stop” a bus-stop that was yet to be built!
No! For one, the ‘Muslim’ in question is a Sikh – a distinction many North Americans are clueless about. And nowhere did Ravi Bhalla say “the word ‘Christmas shall not be said at government functions,’ ” as alleged.
A lot of us received this on WhatsApp. Even applying one's mind in the most cursory of ways; it should be clear that this is just not possible. For heaven’s sake, even the 1st of January is not a Sunday!
Some of us were missing the Rs 1000 note so much that all of us wanted to believe this one – to make ourselves feel better! We were supposed to see it in June 2017. Clearly, this news was as fake as the two hundred rupee note itself! Though the launch of the Rs 200 note was in fact announced on 24th August 2017, the actual note is orange and looks nothing like this. Plus, most Indians have still not laid eyes on the real thing.
In the new eagerness of Indians to believe anything that boosts nationalistic pride, this one was widely forwarded by people including Kiran Bedi, Governor of Puducherry.
This photo of the child with a face like Ganesh was doing the rounds earlier as well. This usually happens around Ganesh Chaturthi. This particular picture appears to be that of a statue.
This picture is sometimes attributed to India, at times to Honduras, at times someplace else. This one appeals to people’s inclination to believe in the supernatural and the mythological. This one; which is clearly a photo-shopped image – resurfaces as the avatar of Sheshnaag from time to time.
This one was supposed to be a gesture made for Valentine's Day which apparently got a man arrested. This was not the gesture of a lovelorn swain, however; it was a marketing promotion run by a Mumbai based business.
After a hurricane, there was water logging on the streets of Houston. This was so severe that a shark was found swimming on the streets, it was alleged! This image was lifted from the image of a kayaker in the sea and has been used for various hurricanes over time.
Many of us were taken in by this stunning picture of hundreds upon hundreds of lanterns rising up into the sky against the serene backdrop of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. A picture from Thailand was used to photoshop this image; which so many of us gleefully forwarded.
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