The Monalisa Story: Influencers, Kumbh & Going Viral

February 01, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

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Hello,

Sixteen-year-old Monalisa came to Kumbh to sell garlands but left as an unwilling internet sensation. Turned into viral fodder by content creators chasing clicks, she was ultimately forced to abandon her livelihood and flee the festival. Read on!

LEARN WITH BOOM

Can taking a screenshot of a social media post really be considered as saving it? Not always. For example, if I take a screenshot of a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), one can say you have generated it on your own. One may ask: where is the link? Basically, a screenshot is not clickable. 

But, there is a way out! You can archive social media posts or any URL/ link and preserve it before it’s deleted or edited. 

Here's how you can archive:

  • Go to archive.is website. 

  • You will see a red bar saying: ‘My url is alive and I want to archive its content’.

  • Paste the original link that you want to archive/ save.

  • Next, click on the ‘save’ button. 

  • And then, you will get the archived version of the link.

  • There are multiple archiving tools: Wayback machine, ghostarchive, perma.cc

This is how the archived version looks on archive.is. You can see the date on which this post was archived, the handle that shared the post, date on which the post was shared, etc.

Meanwhile, The Teen Fact-Checking Network India by BOOM and MediaWise is expanding to Bengali and Hindi! 🔗 Apply here: https://linktr.ee/tfcn 

The fully remote programme for teenagers (13-19 years) begins in February 2025. You will be:

  • taught verification, fact-checking, media literacy and internet safety

  • taught to write scripts and make videos

  • paid per month for 4 months

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DECODE

Garland Seller To Viral Star: How Influencers Chased Monalisa Away From Kumbh

From ordinary life to overwhelming ordeal: Monalisa, a garland seller from Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, was simply doing her job at this year’s Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, selling rudraksha garlands to devotees. Her striking features caught the internet's attention, and what followed was a cautionary tale of how social media can transform an ordinary life into an overwhelming ordeal. 

Downside of virality: A video showing Monalisa at work quickly went viral, with people dubbing her "the most beautiful girl". Soon, she was surrounded not by customers interested in her garlands, but by crowds seeking selfies. 

Someone’s ordeal is content for another: Soon after she was forced to leave Kumbh due to harassment, digital creators like Kanji Vlogs and Laxmi Naath turned their attention to her family. 

The line between cultural appreciation and commodification got blurred in these videos as the focus shifted from the collective experience to viral content. Read Hera Rizwan’s story.

A Pakistani YouTuber Reunited Mumbai Woman With Family After 22 Years

  • Hamida Banu, a 75-year-old woman from Mumbai, was reunited with her family after 22 years, having been trafficked to Pakistan in 2002 under false promises of a job in Dubai. 

  • Pakistani YouTuber Waliullah Maroof played a key role in bringing Banu's story to light, connecting her with her family through his videos and social media outreach. 

  • Maroof’s YouTube video went viral, ultimately reaching Banu’s family in Mumbai through Facebook and WhatsApp. 

Banu’s ordeal highlights the systemic issue of human trafficking in South Asia, driven by economic vulnerability and exploitation of marginalised communities. Waquar Hasan reports.

AI-generated visuals and deepfakes are increasingly being used to spread mis/disinformation. Some of the social media platforms are staying away from fact-checking and therefore leaving facts to not be a necessity anymore. At such a time, we need your support more than ever. And it starts with taking this 2-minute-survey. Your responses will help us serve you better, and become sustainable in our shared mission to fight mis/disinformation.

LAW, JUSTICE ET AL

Uttarakhand’s UCC: What Live-In Partners Must Declare

Couples in Uttarakhand in a live-in relationship will now have to register themselves with the government by submitting their marital status including previous relationships if any, details on where they will live and a clearance from a religious head attesting the couple are eligible to marry should they wish to. 

  • Couples intending to live together without marrying, will need Aadhar authentication to register themselves. 

  • The couple will have to submit proof of previous relationships, if any, especially if they have been in a live-in relationship before.

  • A registrar has the power to investigate the claims made by the couples and act accordingly if any of the submissions are suspect. Parents will be informed if either one or both of the intended couple are under the age of 21. 

But, can a registrar refuse to register a live-in relationship? Find out in Ritika Jain’s story.

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍 A viral video on social media shows Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj on stage, asking iOS assistant Siri to answer a question on who promised to clean the Yamuna River in five years, to which Siri answers with the name of AAP supremo, "Arvind Kejriwal." But, is this video legit? Find out in 🔗 Srijit Das’ ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 AAP posted a video on Instagram and X, showing a luxurious palace-like residence, falsely claiming it to be the newly proposed residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a part of the Central Vista project. Read 🔗 Archis Chowdhury’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 A photo from 2014 showing Tipu Sultan in Karnataka's tableau for the then Republic Day parade went viral claiming it is recent from 2025 celebrations held in Delhi. 🔗 Srijit Das ↗️ debunked the claim.

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: Which Parts of These Images Are A.I.-Generated?

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Verified By Boom is written by Divya Chandra, edited by Adrija Bose and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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