Twitter on Wednesday tagged as “manipulated media” an image posted by Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s information and technology department and co-in-charge of Bengal, while the farmers’ protest was snowballing in the capital.
Twitter’s action makes Malviya perhaps the first Indian politician to be flagged for fake news and puts him in the unsavoury company of Donald Trump, many of whose tweets had been called out during the recent US presidential elections.
Malviya is accused of posting an edited video to suggest that a particular farmer was not beaten, contrary to the impression left behind by a photograph tweeted by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday. The purported full video showed a blow from another officer landing on the farmer.
On November 28, Malviya had quoted a tweet by Rahul featuring a photograph showing a CRPF jawan aiming a baton at an elderly farmer at Singhu on the Delhi-Haryana border.
Rahul had tweeted: “It is a very sad photo. Our slogan was ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ but today PM Modi’s arrogance made the jawan stand against the farmer. This is very dangerous.”
Malviya tweeted a clip showing the same man running past the CRPF, where it is unclear whether any of their batons touched him. “Rahul Gandhi must be the most discredited Opposition leader India has seen in a long long time,” Malviya had posted above the clip.
Several Twitter users later shared the full footage from Russia Today and Voice of America that show state and central forces hitting several farmers, including the farmer in the picture Rahul had tweeted.
The farmer was identified as 57-year-old Sukhdev Singh from Kapurthala and interviewed by the news website Boomlive. He has injuries on his forearm, back and calf muscle.
Twitter said in a message to viewers: “The video of police baton missing an elderly man during the farmers’ protest is edited, according to BoomLive and AltNews. An image of an officer at the farmers’ protest raising his baton to strike an elderly man went viral after being captured by PTI photojournalist Ravi Choudhary.
“After being shared by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, BJP’s Amit Malviya responded with a short edited video of the incident. Malviya’s edited video shows one officer with a baton missing the man in the viral image. However, BoomLive analysed a longer un-edited video which shows a second officer swinging his baton at the man. BoomLive has identified the farmer, who stated that he was hit and showed bruises he said were from the incident.”
Twitter had first announced plans to call out fake news on its platform in February but has started doing so in India now. The company has not revealed whether Malviya is its first catch.
Malviya did not respond to a WhatsApp message from this newspaper seeking his comments on Twitter’s action.
