Here's this week's round-up of the News You Almost Believed.
A 2013 photograph showing two men vandalise a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Andhra Pradesh following the creation of Telangana is being shared on social media as vandalism by the Left in Tripura in 2008. The picture was shared in the context of the right-wing in India receiving flak after the felling of a statue of Russian communist icon 'Lenin' in Tripura days after the BJP came to power in the state. Read BOOM's factcheck here.
The official Twitter handle of the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah on February 28 tweeted a photo of a solar park in Bavaria, Germany as the recently inaugurated solar park in Pavagada, Karnataka. The verified handle '@CMofKarnataka' had tweeted an image of Siddaramaiah standing against the backdrop of a field of solar panels. Read how BOOM traced the original image in our factcheck.
A two year old video from Gaza by euronews showing tonnes of Snickers bars being set on fire in a large pit is being shared on Facebook as a recent event in 2018. The post seems to have originated from several clickbait Facebook pages that advise against buying the chocolate. BOOM also reached out to global confectionery manufacturer Mars Inc, the maker of Snickers chocolate bars. The company confirmed that this was indeed a hoax. Read the story here.
A viral message on social media urging people to avoid buying Cadbury products for the next few weeks as a worker 'infected' the confectioner's products with HIV (AIDS), is a hoax. The message is accompanied by a picture of a man being taken into custody by Interpol police. A spokesperson for Mondelez in India, the company that makes Cadbury chocolate bars, confirmed to BOOM that the post was fake. Furthermore HIV spreads by transmission of bodily fluids from an infected person and not by consuming contaminated food. Read the story here.
You can also catch BOOM's Jency Jacob and Suyash Barve debunk that story on our show Fact Vs. Fiction.
https://youtu.be/42qNUCvZ5zw