A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing a seminar at Colombia’s EIA University saying, “I have a big social media presence but would not rely on that thing. That thing is a lot of fluff,” is being shared with the misleading claim that he called his social media following fluff and inorganic.
BOOM watched the original speech and found that Gandhi was cautioning students not to depend on social media fame, which he described as temporary, and instead focus on developing resilient, unique skills. He did not say that his followers are fake or inorganic.
The Claim: Video shows Gandhi admitting that his following on social media is fluff
The 10 seconds video was posted on X by BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla with the caption, ""I have a big Social Media Presence, but I would not rely on it. That thing is all Fluff"~ Rahul Gandhi accepts his followers and views are not organic or Indian! Not a day goes without the embarrassment of shrill-nate!"
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What We Found:
1) Gandhi's speech at Colombia's EIA University
We watched the complete address given by Gandhi at Colombia's EIA University on October 2, 2025.
At around the 1:00:48 mark, Gandhi was asked to give a message to young people about job creation and different avenues of creating employment including AI and online influencers.
Responding to the question, Gandhi said the following, “For the people who are doing the influencer bit. My personal view is enjoy yourselves but, please do not rely on that because that stuff is going to disappear, this is temporary, this is a temporary phenomenon. Make sure you have some resilient skill that you can depend on that is useful, and the more specialised, the more unique your capability is, the easier it is going to be for you.”
He then gave an example saying, "So, if you're a doctor, make sure that you're you have some specialisation that nobody else has because you're probably the first generation that can sell that skill anywhere on the planet. You don't have to sell it just in Colombia. You can sell it anywhere you want. So you have the tools for massive marketing, massive projection, but you do need that one or two or three skills that make you unique."
In this context Gandhi said: “I mean, I have a big social media presence but would not rely on that thing. That thing is a lot of fluff. Be careful.”
The above line has been cropped and shared without context to make the misleading claim.
