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Verified By BOOM 65

Verified By BOOM 65

Misinformation Amid India-Canada Tension

September 22, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

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Hello,

Diplomatic tensions escalated between India and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 19 September alleged a “potential link” between the Indian government and the killing of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia, Canada earlier this year in June.

This has also led to several false claims being circulated on the internet.

Read on!

🔖 Did you read those news reports that claimed that Canada has updated its travel advisory for India warning Canadian citizens to "exercise a high degree of caution" and advising them against traveling to Jammu and Kashmir?

This comes in the backdrop of the ongoing diplomatic row that broke out between India and Canada.

Quick fact: It’s not a new update.

No, you don’t have to believe me. Look at the evidence yourself!

Since you have to track down the history of an online URL (link), archiving should be your first option.
In the previous editions of this newsletter, I had explained in detail how to archive online links. Some online archiving tools are: Wayback Machine & Archive.is
In this case, just enter the URL of Canada’s travel advisory and click on the ‘browse history’ button.
Now, if you navigate through the online archives, you will see that the tag of "Exercise a high degree of caution" for India and for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir was in place back in July 2023.
Even going back to January 2023, the same travel advisory was in place for J&K, Northeast India, border areas with Pakistan.
BOOM’s Anmol Alphonso also reached out to the Canadian government department - Global Affairs Canada who confirmed that no "new risk information" was added to the travel advisory for India.

Read the detailed fact-check here.

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🅱️ Quiz

Do you know what really happened in the news this week? Find out by taking the BOOM quiz:

👆 Simply click on image below to start the quiz!

India Now Has 42 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. How Are They Chosen?

🔖 Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal's Birbhum district founded by Rabindranath Tagore, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This announcement came on 25 September.

But what does it take to be inscribed on the World Heritage List? What does it mean to be inscribed on the list? Read this explainer by Hera Rizwan.

Will X Turn Into A Paid Platform? Here's What Elon Musk Actually Said

🔖 First, Twitter became X. Now, in the aftermath of Elon Musk's recent interview, social media has been abuzz with speculations that X might turn into an entirely subscription-based platform.

Read this story to find out what he actually said.

Virtual Navigators Are Looking Out For Sex Workers On The Internet

🔖 Kedar Raj is hooked on his phone all day, every day. It is full of social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and dating apps like Grindr, Planet Romeo, and Tinder. His phone constantly buzzes, indicating incoming text messages, often from multiple apps.

As soon as he wakes up, he sifts through the text messages on his phone, replying to some while scheduling counseling sessions for HIV/AIDS prevention.

He is one among the many virtual navigators. Every day, virtual navigators need to find and reach out to at least 50 online profiles of people who might be at risk of HIV. Read Puja Bhattacharjee’s story.

Land Deeds: A New Tool In The Hands Of Scammers Pulling Off AePS Scam

🔖 Meanwhile, refraining from disclosing One Time Passwords (OTPs) or not divulging bank account information may sound like a foolproof idea to avoid falling into the trap of scammers.

However, cybercriminals have found a way to surpass these checks and attack biometric ATMs to drain users’ bank accounts.

Find out in this Decode story by Hera Rizwan.

25 Fact-Checks Published

🔖 Political and communal content were circulated the most (24% each), followed by scripted content (claims using CGI, animated videos, etc) at 16%, and alarmist content (claims that induce stress) at 12%.

The ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada gave rise to many false claims over the week.

Read our thread on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to know the detailed analysis by Debraj Sarkar.

🚫 Fake News You Almost Fell For

🔍 A video of a man speaking about banning the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Canada amidst diplomatic tensions with India went viral with a false claim that the Canadian government is set to ban the Hindu organisation. Read 🔗Hazel Gandhi’s↗️ fact-check.

🔍Is Congress running an IT Cell website called 'congressitcell.com' from China? 🔗Nivedita Niranjankumar & Sujith↗️ verified the claim.

🔍 Did you also come across a video showing PM Narendra Modi walking with the heads of states at Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, as a part of the G20 Summit? Well, some social media users claimed that the word Allah was omitted as Raghupati Raghav bhajan played in the background. Read 🔗Srijit Das’↗️ fact-check to find out if this really happened.

🔍A video of a male dancer belly dancing on stage went viral with the claim that it shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy belly dancing. Find out the facts in 🔗Archis Chowdhury’s↗️ story.

🅱️ Recommends

📖 This week's recommendation is: The influence of Information Relevance on the Continued Influence Effect of Misinformation in Journal of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Disorders

This research asserts that deceptive information that is recognised to have some personal stake in the mind of the recipient tends to persist despite subsequent exposure to counter information. This strongly suggests that media literacy contends with the possibility of personalised awareness modules to deal with CIEM more effectively.

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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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