2023 Year Roundup -Telugupost debunked misinformation, and educated readers with facts through 2023

Major incidents like Russia – Ukraine war, Israel Hamas war, the Turkey earthquake, the Manipur riots, train collision in Balasore have influenced the misinformation ecosystem in the country, we debunked most of them and kept the audience well informed.

Most read Fact Checks:

One of the fact check read mostly was about a video showing a young woman misbehaving with the police officials and relating her actions to drug addiction. But the young woman from Koramangala, Bengaluru was a mentally challenged person and not a drug addict. When India scripted history in August 2023 when ISRO landed the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander module on the moon’s surface successfully, a video of a heavy truck carrying a huge rocket crossing a very narrow bridge went viral with the claim that the truck was carrying a rocket with Chandrayaan-3. We found that the video clip is a gaming clip from a video game named “Spintires: Midrunner”

Another interesting fact check published by Telugupost is about a viral video claiming to show the Huangzhaoun interchange bridge which is a multi-layered and complicated road system. Though the Huangzhaoun interchange bridge is complicated the video had several digitally altered visuals that do not show the interchange in China.

Another widely read fact check is an article on a viral video claiming to show a woman collector in Karnataka state wearing a burqa during a flag hoisting ceremony on Independence Day. But the woman officer seen in the video is the vice chairman of the district development council in Kishtwar, Jammu.

Hoax messages:

In 2023, we saw a few hoax messages floating around on social media regionally where a message in Telugu was in wide circulation asking users not to recharge their mobile phones as Bommireddy Kishore is recharging them to make the smart city project a success. The message also states that users need to forward the message to 4 groups and 10 individuals and the mobile will be recharged in 5 minutes. However, the message was found to be a hoax, which is intended to mislead people.

A spam message claiming that a video named “India is doing it” is in circulation on WhatsApp, when opened, the phone will be hacked. But it is a spam message that is a modern equivalent to an old chain letter that urged the readers to send copies to ten more people or something terrible will happen to them.

Another hoax message claims that the Andhra Pradesh government spends RS 342 crore annually on the salaries of pastors in the East Godavari district alone. But the message was found to be a hoax as according to reports, the AP government released Rs 2.59 crore rupees towards payment of honorarium of Rs 5000 each to all 5196 pastors in the state.

We also debunked hoax messages that claimed Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam is charging 10 rupees for walking sticks to pilgrims on the trekking path to keep safe from the wild animals and also a text message in the name of the income tax department asking people to fill in their bank account details to avail the refund available to them. There was a suspicious link attached to the scam text.

Scams:

Telugupost debunked claims that tried to tarnish the image of some brands in the country. An image of halal certified pack of Ashirvaad atta sold in India went viral on social media, but it was found to be the pack for export for some countries, not India. A video showing Amul butter claims that a duplicate made in China amul butter is in the market and everyone needs to be careful while buying Amul butter. But this claim was refuted by Amul and clarified.

A hoax message that Tanishq is giving away gifts on the occasion of Women’s Day, but the link provided with the message leads to a clickbait website which may contain malware and lead to hacking of the devices. Another hoax claims that Elon Musk invited his followers to participate in a cryptocurrency giveaway, which is also a scam.

There had been images viral about the CMR shopping mall, campus shoes Nataraj pencils which were found to be false.

Deepfakes:

By the end of the year we noticed a surge in claims that shared AI-generated media, we debunked a video claiming that an octopus climbed up a car and destroyed it. During the flooding and state of emergency in New York City, we found that the claim was false. It is a computer-generated video by a designer in Qatar.

A CGI-generated advertisement campaign was shared as a 3D advertisement of a Barbie movie placed near Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Another CGI video showing a man performing a stunt by jumping off the helicopter rotor was also shared with the claim that it is a real incident where the person is performing an extraordinary stunt called ‘Rotor Challenge’.

Deepfake images and videos that have been manipulated by AI to impersonate real people have advanced a lot recently, it poses a real threat in the area of misinformation. A video targeting Indian actress Rashmika Mandanna was created by digitally altering an original video published by an Instagram user Zaara Patel.

Deepfake videos entered into the election campaigning too. Videos of actor Arjun Kapoor and cricketer Kuldeep Yadav wishing a party candidate all the best for the elections. But the videos turned out to be AI manipulated. Deepfake images of construction workers who were rescued from the Silkyara tunnel, showing Ayodhya Railway Station were also in circulation and were debunked by Telugupost.