Verified By BOOM #1

Dear 

We hope you are doing well wherever you are. We have a quick announcement to make. As you must have noticed, we are sunsetting BOOM Weekender and are thrilled to bring to you ✅ Verified by BOOM - Your weekly antidote against fake news and all its cousins.

We will bring you the week's most prominent fact-checks, fake news that you almost fell for, explainers, ground reports, Decode stories and some tips that will help keep you sane and safe on the Internet.

👋 I'm Divya Chandra, BOOM's resident fact-checker & producer of this weekly newsletter. 

Let's catch you up!

🔖 Last week, we witnessed several false claims around the controversy involving former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her comments on Prophet Mohammad. Many social media users shared old visuals to falsely claim that Indian migrant workers in Kuwait were being sent back because of the controversy. 

🔖 Meanwhile, a screenshot of a fake tweet was circulating on social media to claim that English Cricketer Moeen Munir Ali has demanded an apology from India and that he will boycott the Indian Premier League (IPL) following anti-Prophet Mohammad remarks made by Nupur Sharma.

🔖 The Election Commission of India, on 9 June, announced the schedule of the election to elect the next President of India, which will be held on 18 July to succeed President Ram Nath Kovind, who finishes his five-year term on 24 July. 

🤔 Here is an explainer by BOOM that answers the key questions about the Presidential election: Who elects the President of India? Who is eligible to be a Presidential candidate? How do voting and counting take place? What is a secret ballot and how is the value of a vote determined?

🔖

Caught On Camera, Viral Forever: When Digital Memory Is A Curse

Across the world, videos of brutal killings, often traumatic reminders of a loved one's death, have been turned into click magnets. Our story on the relentless battle of living with a '#viral', digital memory of the death. A report by Adrija Bose.

🔖

Hindus Broke Idols In Karnataka Temple; TV Channels Let Muslims Be Blamed

When some idols were vandalised in a temple in Karnataka's Hassan district in late May, several national and local Kannada TV channels misreported the incident as a hate crime. They let Muslims be blamed for the incident. Many right-wing groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal later took to the streets to protest against Muslims. However, BOOM found out that there was no involvement of a Muslim person. The idols were vandalised over an altercation between a few Hindu youth and idol sculptors.

💡 Have you been wondering how to secure Aadhaar card based transactions in your bank account to avoid any unintended/ unnecessary transactions? Well, here's what you can do:

Biometric Locking / Unlocking.

✔️ STEP 1

• Go to this website: https://resident.uidai.gov.in/bio-lock

• Check the box next to the disclaimer: "I understand that after biometric lock enable..."

• Click on 'Lock/Unlock biometrics'.

✔️ STEP 2

• Enter your Aadhaar card number and Captcha.

• An OTP will be sent to your registered mobile number.

• After entering the OTP, click on 'Submit.'

• Then, click on 'Enable Locking Feature.'

✔️ STEP 3

• You will be redirected to a confirmation window acknowledging "Your biometric is locked successfully."

• Similar steps can be performed to unlock the Aadhaar biometric data. 

⚠️ 

After locking your Aadhaar biometric, authentication cannot be performed using Aadhaar number. You will have to unlock it to continue the authentication process. 

🤔 We have been rigorously conducting LIVE workshops on busting fake news and telling you how to consume media. We will soon launch a workshop on digital safety for children. In the meantime, check out our existing courses.

If you have suggestions about this newsletter or want us to conduct workshops on specific topics, drop us a line at 👉 

[email protected]

 and we will get back to you in a jiffy.

Thanks for reading. See you next Saturday 👋