What Happens When a Child’s Future Depends on a Database Match?

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A recent viral video claiming to show Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee endorsing Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar was actually an edited one. The clip, which used an edited version of an old Amazon Prime ad with a fake AI-generated audio, provides a perfect, step-by-step case study for how to fact-check AI misinformation.

The Recipe: A Four-Step Check

When encountering a suspicious video, use this four-step process to verify its authenticity:

1. Trace the Original Source:

• Action: Before running any AI tool, perform a reverse image search or simple keyword search to find the original content.

• In this case: BOOM’s Anmol Alphonso searched on YouTube and found the original video was a November 2023 Amazon Prime ad, not a political endorsement.

2. The Tech Check:

• Action: Use AI deepfake detection tools to analyze the audio and video tracks.

• In this case: Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector gave the voice an authenticity score of 1/100, flagging it as highly likely to be a deepfake.

3. Find Official Context:

• Action: Always check the subject's official social media accounts or statements.

• In this case: Manoj Bajpayee himself took to X to clarify that the video was a "fake, patched-up edit," directly denying any political affiliation.

4. Observe Red Flags:

• Action: Examine the video frame-by-frame for hidden clues or disclaimers.

• In this case: The viral clip actually included a small, easily missed "spoof" disclaimer at the bottom—a clear sign that the video was intentionally altered.

The Larger Point: Verification Requires More Than Tools

Fact-checking is not just about using tools but also about human investigation, historical context, and primary source verification. Tools are essential for technical confirmation, but critical thinking, tracking down original content, and seeking official statements are key ingredients that complete the fact-checker's recipe.

📢 Join Teen Scam Busters and learn how to spot phishing links and protect yourself from online scams and fraud.

Plus: You get to build an app!📱 
This three-month online programme starting in November 2025 is open for everyone in the age group of 13-20.

DECODE

The Impossible Maze Of India’s New Student Identity Project—APAAR

Every few months since 2017, Tarannum Khatun makes the same pilgrimage: An hour-long ride to Ranchi, a queue at an Aadhaar kiosk, the same bureaucratic choreography of forms, fingerprints and the polite refusal to help. 

Her daughter Sana was born at home, as most children in rural Jharkhand are. Somewhere in the chaos of an earlier enrollment drive, someone typed Sana's details incorrectly into a computer. The error has followed her ever since.

Now 13, Sana's Aadhaar card has been "blacklisted" – a term the officials use but never quite explain. Without it, she cannot get an APAAR ID, the new "Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry" that the Indian government insists will revolutionise education. 

On paper, APAAR is voluntary.

Even Shivendra Kumar Mishra, who works as a customer service point agent helping others fix their Aadhaar problems, couldn't solve his own daughter's. "The operator registered it wrong – Shivendra became Sivendra. I didn't notice," he told Adrija Bose. When Class 9 registration came around, the error had already propagated through UDISE+. 

In Jharkhand, more than half of all school-age children are still waiting for their APAAR numbers.

AI Powered An Inter-state Exam Cheating Syndicate In India

Police in Uttar Pradesh’s capital - Lucknow - busted an inter-state exam cheating ring that used artificial intelligence (AI) tools to create synthetic photos which enabled proxy candidates to appear for a job exam. 

A total of 10 people, including one actual candidate, were arrested, while appearing for the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) Clerk 2025 exam in Lucknow’s Bijnaur area. Several others were absconding. 

"They used AI apps like Remini AI, Fotor, and ChatGPT to create a new photo that matched about 70% of both the original and proxy candidate’s faces,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Nipun Agarwal told Decode’s Shefali Srivastava. 

Agarwal said a new AI photo was made to look like both the applicant and the proxy so that examiners couldn’t tell the difference.

Read this story to know how the con unraveled and what can be done to stop it.

Gen Z vs Gen Z: The Online Battle Over Ladakh And Sonam Wangchuk

Nivedita Niranjankumar & Karen Rebelo went down the social media rabbit hole to find online narratives and disinformation about recent protests in Ladakh and the detention of educator and activist Sonam Wangchuk.

A narrative war on Ladakh is playing out on social media. Ladakh’s Gen Z on one side - constrained by internet connectivity and social media algorithms and on the other side slickly produced videos by youth linked to BJP. 

The flashpoint came on September 24, 2025, when four protesters, three in their twenties, were killed during a peaceful demonstration in Leh. The internet was swiftly cut off.

Two days later, climate activist and educator Sonam Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act.

As hashtags like #ISupportSonamWangchuk, #SaveLadakh, and #IStandWithSonamWangchuk became rallying cries, a parallel narrative was quietly going viral—one that painted Wangchuk not as an activist, but as an enemy of the state.

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍  The Bharatiya Janata Party’s social media head Amit Malviya recently claimed on X that the government of the Netherlands had released a commemorative postal stamp to mark 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and called it a "significant gesture of international recognition" for the organisation. But, is this true? Find out in 🔗 Archis Chowdhury’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍  Did Afghanistan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi call persecution of Indian Muslims India’s ‘internal matter’? Here’s the 🔗 truth ↗️.

🔍  A video of AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi refusing an 'I Love Mohammad' photo frame after noticing his photo placed beside the Gumbad-e-Khizra (the green dome over Prophet Muhammad's tomb in Medina) was shared on social media with the misleading claim that he rejected it because he does not support the ongoing 'I Love Mohammad' protests. 🔗 Anmol Alphonso ↗️  tells you the truth.

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: Countering Misinformation Early: Evidence from a Classroom-Based Field Experiment in India

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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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