Fact Check: Film director RGV’s imposter Twitter account trolls TDP leader Nara Lokesh

Fake accounts, especially of celebrities, have become rampant on social media, particularly on Twitter. Fake social media profiles often serve as the base for digital scams. These accounts are meant to influence netizens and make them believe that the opinions posted are those of the celebrities.

A tweet by Telugu Desam Party MLC Nara Lokesh was trolled by a Twitter handle impersonating Indian film Director Ram Gopal Varma.

The tweet by the TDP leader who is on a padayatra in Andhra Pradesh is as follows: “గుడ్ మార్నింగ్ అంటూ వీధుల్లో షో చేసే యూట్యూబ్ స్టార్ కేతిరెడ్డి వెంక‌ట‌రామిరెడ్డి చేసేవి కబ్జాలు, ఇసుక దందాలు, సెటిల్మెంట్లు. నిన్న సాయంత్రం ఎమ్మెల్యే గుట్ట చెరువులు ఆక్ర‌మించి చేసిన క‌బ్జాలు చూపించాను. ఈ రోజు ఉద‌యం చిత్రావతి నది ఉప్పలపాడు రీచ్ నుంచి సాగిస్తున్న ఇసుక మాఫియా దందా ఇది.”

When translated, it states: “YouTube star Ketireddy Venkatarami Reddy, who hosts Good Morning show roaming on the streets, is involved in encroachments, illegal sale of sand and settlements. Yesterday evening, I showed the encroachments by Ketireddy at MLA Gutta pond. This morning, I am showing you the sand mafia business being done at Uppalapadu reach near Chitravati river.”

Responding to this, film director Ram Gopal Varma tweeted: “నువ్వు ఎందుకు పాదయాత్ర చేస్తున్నది చెప్పు ఫస్ట్.. మీ పాదయాత్ర వల్ల ప్రజలకు ఏం చేస్తావు. ..?”

On translation, it reads: “First, tell the people why you are leading a padayatra? What good do you want to do to the people through your padayatra?”

Fact check:

The film director’s Twitter account is being managed by an imposter.

When we checked the Twitter account thoroughly, we found that the Twitter account - @RGV101010, is a fake one. Though the picture and the name of the handle resemble that of Ram Gopal Varma’s account, the account’s bio was created in February 2023 only and has only 307 followers. This is the latest Twitter handle impersonating Ram Gopal Varma.

When trying to identify if the Twitter account of any celebrity is fake, first look into the number of followers and the date of creation of the account. An account that trolls others continuously, and tweets only photos can be fake. Another method of verifying the authenticity of the account is using Twitter’s advanced search option and looking for replies and retweets from the suspected accounts.

The real account of Indian Film director Ram Gopal Varma is @rgvzoomin. His account has been active since May 2009 and has 5.8 million followers. He made more than 12.5K tweets during this period, while the impersonating handle tweeted only 223 tweets.

While searching for Ram Gopal Varma, we obtained several Twitter accounts that are impersonating him. While a few mention that they are parody or fan accounts, many do not mention that and @RGV101010 is one of them.

Hence, Twitter account @RGV101010 is an imposter account of film director Ram Gopal Varma. The netizen operating this handle has been trolling the TDP leaders continuously.