Islamophobic False Narratives Dominate Disinformation In September: BOOM Monthly Report

The majority of fact-checks—33.7%—addressed communal issues, with another 31.5% focused on Indian politics, particularly the Assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Crime-related misinformation made up 9.8%, primarily related to the Kolkata RG Kar rape case.

Muslims in India were the main targets, comprising 27.5% of false claims. BOOM also noted a trend of falsely accusing the Muslim community of railway infrastructure sabotage and communal vandalism.

Mis/disinformation in 38% of the total fact-checks were peddled using old and unrelated videos.

Additionally, 44.5% of the total fact-checks involved claims that were shared by verified accounts on X. Among those who repeatedly spread false claims on X were Jitendra Pratap Singh and Rishi Bagree with three and two instances respectively.

We also fact-checked news channels such as News18 India and Dainik Jagran for instances of media misreporting.

Theme Assessment

False Communal Claims Targeting Muslims Over Railway Line Tampering Incidents

Of the total fact-checks, 33.7% were related to communal narratives. These included accusations against the Muslim community for vandalism and disrupting railway lines across the country, as well as communal claims about the Tirupati laddu controversy and misinformation targeting political leaders.

A video showing railway track tampering near a station in Surat, Gujarat, went viral on social media, with users linking the incident to a "particular community" and alleging it was a conspiracy to harm the railways. However, BOOM's investigation revealed that three individuals were arrested, and all were railway employees. According to a report by Live Hindustan, the arrested individuals—Subhash Poddar (39), Manish Mistry (28), and Shubham Jaiswal (26)—were part of the railway maintenance department.

Similarly, an old, unrelated video of a young boy being caught by an adult placing stones on railway tracks was circulating on social media, falsely implying it is a recent incident involving a Muslim boy attempting to derail a train.

BOOM spoke to the Wadi Railway Police, who clarified that the video is from 2018. The boy was merely playing with stones near the railway tracks in Kalaburagi, and the incident had no malicious intent.

In another video, a man breaking a glass window of a semi-high speed train Vande Bharat was viral on social media with a false communal claim that a Muslim was destroying the train. The claim stated, "Train Jihad is at its peak...It is not known where the video is from But you can see how the terrorist of ISIS module is carrying out his conspiracy by breaking the glass of "Vande Bharat" train. Repost the video so much that. This terrorist should be caught."

However, an investigation by BOOM found that the video was actually taken during the maintenance of the Vande Bharat express at a depot in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The man in the video, who was replacing the glass, is not a Muslim, and the claims are baseless.

Here's the video of the original video:

Tirupati Laddu Controversy

Another communal claim around the Tirupati Temple laddu controversy was viral on social media. The claim falsely stated that the top management of the company supplying ghee for prasad at the Tirupati temple are Muslims. The controversy started on September 18 when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, citing a lab report, alleged that animal fat was mixed in the ghee used for the temple prasad. This sparked political debate, particularly targeting the Jaganmohan Reddy government, which had awarded the ghee supply contract to AR Dairy Private Limited. A viral post shared a screenshot of five Muslim officials from a company named AR Foods (Private) Limited, falsely implying they were top management in the Tirupati prasad controversy.

However, BOOM found the claim to be false. The viral post referred to AR Foods (Private) Limited, a company based in Islamabad, Pakistan, with no connection to the Tirupati controversy. The CEO of AR Dairy Food Private Limited, the actual supplier in the case, confirmed that his company's name is AR Dairy Food Private Limited, not AR Foods (Pvt) Limited.

AI-Generated Celebrity Endorsements Used in Investment Scams

Of the 9 fact-checks involving AI-generated false claims, 4 were linked to fake investment scams. One example is a viral video featuring a deepfake of Google CEO Sundar Pichai endorsing an investment platform called "Google Invest."

BOOM's search revealed that the video was fabricated using artificial intelligence. The MCA's Deepfake Analysis Unit confirmed that a voice clone of Pichai was used, alongside a lip-sync algorithm, to create false synchronisation between the synthetic audio and his lip movements.

Similarly, a video clip featuring author and Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty appeared to show her promoting an investment app and encouraging others to use it. However, the video was doctored, with the help of an AI voice clone. BOOM found that the original video was from a speech Murty gave at a conclave in July 2023. In the original context, Murty, who is also the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, was discussing her experience as the wife of an entrepreneur. The altered clip overlays fake AI-generated audio, falsely linking her to the promotion of the investment app.

Medium, Intent & Type of Deception

70.7% of the 92 fact-checks were shared via videos, followed by images (16.3%) and texts (13%).

Regarding the intent behind spreading mis/disinformation, 90.2% of the total fact-checks were under the “Sensationalist” category. This was followed by “Smear Campaigns” against Indian political leaders (7.6%) and the intent of spreading “Demographic Anxiety” (2.2%).

82.6% of the total fact-checks consisted of false content, followed by fabricated content (9.8%) and misleading content (5.4%).