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Hello,

We're excited to announce that BOOM has partnered with MediaWise to launch the first-ever India edition of the MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network (TFCN). Over the past four years, TFCN has engaged teenagers in the United States in debunking online misinformation.

Now, we're bringing this initiative to India and are proud to offer teenagers the opportunity to become fact-checkers and join our team. We're looking for 10 talented individuals to produce video fact-checks on Instagram and YouTube.

If you or someone you know is interested in joining this exciting initiative, click on the link below for more details: 🔗https://tfcnboomlive.in/

🔖 This week, we conducted back-to-back fact-checking workshops in Mumbai (organised by IndiaSpend and Azim Premji University) and Guwahati (US Consulate General Kolkata and CUTS).

Interestingly, the more workshops I conduct, I come across more variety of questions being asked by the participants, thereby helping me understand the different directions in which people think.

For example, as fact-checkers, we always stress on finding the primary source of information and relying on the same. So, regarding image verification, a participant asked me: What if the media outlet/ news agency that captured the image has put a wrong caption on their website by mistake?

Possible scenario, right? Since anybody can make a mistake.

Answer: While it's pertinent to find out which media outlet has captured this image, you don't have to stop there.

• Reach out to the photographer who has captured the image.

• Ask them for the RAW file of the photo via mail. (Not social media app since the original metadata of the image gets lost when we share it on WhatsApp, etc)

• Once you have the RAW file, find the EXIF information using online EXIF data viewers.

• This will tell you the date, time and other details about the image.

• These are just some of the ways. Depending on the nature of the image, let's say, you can see a monument/ building/ some shops, you can also geo locate the visual using Google Earth, Google Maps, etc.

🤥 Misinformation This Week

BOOM published a total of 20 fact-checks in English, Hindi and Bangla, each dealing with a unique claim. 40% of the claims are Political in nature, followed by Communal (15%) and Miscellaneous claims (15%).

Read our Twitter thread to know the detailed analysis by Debraj Sarkar.

🗣️ Banned On Facebook, But T Raja's Hate Speeches Are Everywhere

🔖 On February 19, on the occasion of Shivaji Jayanti, T Raja Singh, a suspended BJP MLA from Telangana said, “Don't leave a single love jihadi alive in Maharashtra. Our sisters are being trapped by love jihad. They are being made into a machine for childbirth. Any sister who does not obey is being cut into 35 pieces”.

While an FIR has been registered, however, the video of the hateful speech is still available on YouTube.

Many of the videos that were uploaded on YouTube were taken down by the platform days later. One of the channels 'Shree Ram Channel Telangana' was terminated for being dedicated to violating YouTube’s hate speech policies, after Decode's Vipul Kumar reached out to YouTube for comment.

Read More

💸 'CEO Scam' Returns On WhatsApp: What It Is And How To Protect Yourself

🔖 In September 2022, the Serum Institute of India made headlines when one of its directors, Satish Deshpande, was scammed of Rs 1.01 crore by someone pretending to be CEO Adar Poonawala.

The news had brought to light that scammers were using the names and profiles of CEOs of companies and contacting company staff asking for monetary help or favours, with a promise of a reimbursement later.

Months later in April 2023, the 'CEO scam' found mention on Twitter again when Shikhar Saxena, an employee of Meesho, shared his experience. So, what is the 'CEO scam' and how to stay safe against such scams?

Read this explainer by BOOM's Surbhi Sharma.

Read More

✅ ‘Recognition And Status’: Why Twitter Blue Subscribers Are Happy To Pay For A Blue Tick

🔖 Meanwhile, several legacy verified users on Twitter have said they will not pay to retain their blue ticks, but there are others who have subscribed to Twitter Blue and see several benefits with the product.

Read this explainer by Hera Rizwan to get a for vs against view on Twitter Blue.

Read More

🚫 Fake News You Almost Fell For

🔍 Did you see Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju tweet about a video showing newly appointed Delhi Education Minister Atishi inspecting a school in poor condition? Well, read this fact-check by 🔗Srijit Das↗️ to know the full story.

🔍 Following the assassination of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj in front of police and media personnel, video recordings of the event showed the assassins chanting slogans of "Jai Shri Ram", while being apprehended by the police. But, some social media users claimed that these videos are fake. 🔗Archis Chowdhury↗️ debunked the claim.

🔍 Don't believe those news reports claiming gangster Atiq Ahmad was among six criminal-turned-politicians responsible for saving Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and India's civil nuclear deal with the United States in 2008. Read this fact-check by 🔗Karen Rebelo.↗️

🔍 False claims have gone viral on social media questioning the absoluteness of India's independence from the United Kingdom (UK) citing a 'Transfer of Power Agreement, 1947'. Read this story by 🔗Mohammed Kudrati↗️ to find out the facts.

🅱️ Recommends

📖 This week's recommendation is: I do not believe you: how providing a source corrects health misperceptions across social media platforms by Emily K. Vraga and Leticia Bode

This article deals with a comparative analysis of source provisioning in mitigating the effect of misinformation on two social media platforms: Facebook and Twitter. The contentious issue is a health concern of the time (Zika Virus). The results affirm that the inclusion of a source indeed bolsters the chances of recognising false information, but the mechanism underlying the changes varies across the platforms.

Read More

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Verified By Boom is written by Divya Chandra, edited by Adrija Bose

and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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 week.👋

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