On April 10, the propaganda outlet, Alt News, famous for keeping facts right, was rebuked by Uttar Pradesh Police for misleading people and spreading lies. The co-founder and so-called fact-checker, Mohammed Zubair, deleted his post on social media platform X after getting caught by the UP Police. In his post, Zubair defended the Badaun murderers, Sajid and Javed, who brutally slit the throats of minor boys Ahan and Ayush with a barber’s knife and also drank their blood.
From unleashing a mob on BJP Spokesperson, Nupur Sharma to the killings of Kanhaliya Lal and Umesh Kolhe, there have been a number of instances when Zubair and Alt News in general have misled the people to serve their propaganda.
In this article, we present to you as many as sixty instances when Zubair and his team have shared fake news on social media platforms and their portals, deleted many of them without giving any reason and promoted their evil agenda.
Case-1
Claim: Zubair fact-checked a video from Karnataka’s Vidhana Soudha saying no “Pakistan Zinadbad” slogans were raised by Islamists on victory of Congress candidate Syed Naseer Hussain. As per him, the slogans were instead, “Naasir Sahab Zindabad”. Several Congress leaders also joined the bandwagon.
Reality: On February 29, 2024, Karnataka police detained Mohmad Shafi Nashipudi in connection with the case of raising pro-Pakistani slogans in the Vidhana Soudha, following the victory of Congress candidate Syed Naseer Hussain. Police arrested him based on a voice test that proved “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans were raised.
Case-2
Claim: Alt News fact-checked a viral video that was circulated with a claim that a Muslim woman was gang-raped by Hindu men. Zubair shared on X, how the video was four years old and that the girl was not a Muslim but a Dalit.
Reality: Alt News was right about the video being old but they very cleverly hide the fact that the Dalit girl in the video was being gang raped by Islamists. They framed the headline and the whole news centred around the fact that the video was from Bihar and not UP and that the girl does not belong to the Muslim community. Also, the viral video, the girl was made to beg in the name of Allah for mercy.
Case-3
Claim: In May 2023, the other founder of Alt News, Pratik Sinha from a post on X (Twitter) claimed that, through a program at Alt News called ‘AltEd’ are working on building a curriculum for a NGO students in Bengal where they would learn about misinformation and the news they consume. A news report about this initiative by The Hindu quoted, “The programme also made an attempt so that the children can distinguish between kinds of sources. For instance, a game was devised between two groups of students who delved into fake information that ‘Taj Mahal was Tejo Mahalaya (a Hindu temple).”
Reality: Media outlet OpIndia, reached out to the NGO and the director refuted all such claims. She said, “We were very surprised to see this and we were not aware of any such discussion or session with the children. If it was done it was not in our knowledge – and we do not endorse any kind of controversial political discussion with children within our organisation. We cannot take responsibility for any such reporting as it was not in our knowledge. You may consider informing this to the concerned newspaper.”
Case-4
Claim: On December 13, 2022, Mohammad Zubair shared a video of BJP MLA Preetam Gowda and wrote, “BJP MLA Preetam Gowda from Hassan, Karnataka warns Muslims of not taking up any development work if they do not vote for him in the coming elections”.
Reality: Preetam Gowda in his speech however said, “You will call us Anna, but you do not vote for us. It will make anybody angry. Will you not get angry if you do not get wages for the work you did? Do not you think I will also get upset if you say do not vote for BJP even after carrying out several developmental projects? I am making it simple so that even children can understand. I have always treated you as my family, and continue to do. However, we (politicians) may come to the conclusion there is no point in helping as they will not help us even after carrying out several developmental projects. It is your responsibility to ensure that we do not come to such a conclusion“, he said. “You have cheated me thrice. In the next six months, the elections will be held. If you do not help me again then, I will also be the same and I will not be available to you. If you come to my house, I will offer coffee and send you back. Water, road and drainage work will be done as it is my duty, but I will not be there for your personal work”, he continued.
Case-5
Claim: In March 2022, Zubair defended the jailed Chief Minister of Delhi saying, Amit Malviya and Kapil Mishra misrepresented Delhi CM Kejriwal’s assembly address where he criticised BJP members for promoting ‘The Kashmir Files’. They falsely claimed Kejriwal denied atrocities faced by Kashmiri Pandits.
Reality: Kejriwal called ‘The Kashmir Files’ a jhoothi film on the floor of the Delhi assembly. Even though the debate was on Delhi’s budget presented by Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal took his time to attack the film. His attack on the film expectedly brought strong reactions from Kashmiri Hindus who were displaced after the genocide they suffered in the valley. Kejriwal and his party were roundly criticized for laughing at the pain suffered by Kashmiri Hindus during their genocide and subsequent exodus from the Kashmir valley.
Case-6
Claim: Zubair posted a tweet to demonise Hindus, he highlighted that a ‘Baghwadhari’ (saffron-robed) baba absconded with Rs 15-20 lakh temple offerings. While sharing the screenshot of the Hindi report, Zubair carefully edited out the date of the report, so that he could pass it off as a current report.
Reality: A Twitter user going by the handle @SmokingSkills shared a screenshot of Zubair’s Tweet and the original piece of news to call out the lie of the Islamist propagandist who has regularly uses social media to spread misinformation and lies. The news was 4 years old and after the fact check, Zubair deleted the post.
Case-7
Claim: In the aftermath of demonetisation back in 2016, Sinha had shared images of people standing in long queues at financial institutes to allege that people had to go through hardships because of the Modi government’s decision.
Reality: However, in doing so, Sinha shared a picture from 2014, about two years before the Demonetisation to portray that the decision had caused misery among people.
Case-8
Claim: In another instance shared by the Twitter user, Sinha was caught using an image from 2004 to peddle the condition of cows in Gujarat in 2016. In the year 2016, Sinha shared another picture on his Twitter account where cows were seen lying on the road.
Reality: The image shared by Sinha was from 2004 when many cows had died because of Nitrate poisoning but Sinha felt no compunction in using a 12-year-old picture to ridicule the Gau Rakshaks.
Case-9
Claim: Sinha lied to his followers was regarding the clean Ganga initiative launched by PM Modi. Without delving into the details of the article, Sinha shared a screenshot of an article in which NGT said that public money was wasted and not a single drop of Ganga was cleaned.
Reality: However, Sinha glossed over the details of the article in which the NGT lauded PM Modi for coming up with the initiative of getting Ganga cleaned and rapped various state governments, including Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh for not following PM’s directives for the cleansing of Ganga.
Case-10
Claim: Quoting a social media user who shared a picture of a sobbing old man, Sinha mocked the late Arun Jaitley for his assertion that there was not a single day when the supply of currency during the days after demonetisation was inadequate.
Reality: As it turns out, the man in the question was not crying because of the misery of standing in the queue but he was crying because when he was waiting outside the bank when someone pushed him, a woman stepped on his foot. Additionally, the man even claimed that apart from this he didn’t face much problem during the demonetisation.
Case-11
Claim: In May 2020, Zubair shared an unverified report exonerating the Tablighi Jamaat members from their involvement in spreading the coronavirus outbreak.
Reality: The report was thoroughly refuted by Delhi Police later on.
Case-12
Claim: Zubair ran a parody page of Subramanian Swamy on Facebook to befool his followers with lies and distortions. The page was called ‘Sususwamy’. Zubair had claimed that the veteran BJP leader, BS Yeddyurappa, had celebrated Tipu Sultan in the past and misled his audience using an image from a completely unrelated event to bolster his claim.
Reality: As it turns out, the pictures were of Iftar parties organised by the BJP minority morcha, and had nothing to do with Tipu Sultan.
Case-13
Claim: Zubair shared a cropped video and claimed that some members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) of Gonda, Uttar Pradesh had raised anti-national slogans during a protest rally against Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack. He urged his followers to share the video far and wide so that his political agenda would be fulfilled.
Reality: Ultimately, the Gonda Police had to come forward and issue a statement clarifying that such slogans were never raised and asserted that the video was being used for ‘corrupt’ purposes.
Case-14
Claim: Zubair had also shared a video in which he claimed that the Mayor of Surat was defying lockdown norms when he was prostrating before a Jain monk.
Reality: In reality, the video was from a charity event and the Mayor was only performing an act of ritualistic obeisance as is the norm within the Jain community.
Case-15
Claim: AltNews co-founder Zubair, shielded radical Islamists who may have been responsible for the serial bomb blasts in Sri Lanka.
Reality: Multiple reports confirmed that a blast in Cinnamon Grand Hotel during the brunch was carried out by one man who had checked in as Mohamed Azzam Mohamed giving a false address. As per reports, he waited in a queue and right before he was served he set off a powerful bomb in a packed restaurant in the hotel.
Case-16
Claim: Alt News shielded Islamists who launched an attack in Vidyasagar College in Bengal. In their fact-check, they initially claimed that a video showed only BJP karyakartas throwing stones at those inside the college campus, contrary to the claims made by the party that the first assault came from Trinamool. AltNews claimed that the video showed no stones being thrown from inside the college.
Reality: However, as pointed out by Fact Hunt, a fact-checking website, in reality, there are videos available which do show stones being thrown from the inside. But AltNews conveniently ignored it.
Case-17
Claim: After safely evacuating 41 workers from the tunnel in Uttarakhand, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami held a road show.
Reality: CM Dhami had reached Haldwani to participate in the Eja Baini Mahotsav. This program of the CM was pre-planned and not any road show for evacuating the tunnel workers.
Case-18
Claim: The administration in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, beat up a Kashmiri boy and threw up their belonging for being a Muslim.
Reality: Kashmiri Muslim men were not harassed because they were Muslims, they were simply asked to not sell things in no vending zones.
Case-19
Claim: Zubair shared a viral letter claiming that Acharya Pramod has been suspended from the Congress party.
Reality: The letter suspending Acharya Pramod from Congress was fake and edited.
Case-20
Claim: Security forces were beating students in Manipur
Reality: The students in viral video were caught by the forces for pelting stones and not without guilt.
Case-21
Claim: In May 2022, Alt News did a fact check of news report by Dainik Bhaskar and ABP which said ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised in Bhilwara. The Alt News claimed that no ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised but ‘SDPI Zindabad’ slogans were raised in the rally.
Reality: Police conducted a forensic investigation in this case and found that people did raise ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans in the PFI rally.
Case-22
Claim: South African government had sent a low ranked minister to welcome PM Modi at their airport, while the Chinese President Xi was personally received by the South African President.
Reality: The South African government itself denied any such claims in Daily Maveric report, as per it, this was a fabricated story.
Case-23
Claim: ANI forgot to mention that BJP member Anju George (Athlete) joined the party in 2019.
Reality: Anju George is not a BJP member, in 2019, the news of her joining BJP was revealed but she rejected any such claims.
Case-24
Claim: During the Karnataka Hijab Row, Zubair shared a video supporting the Hijab and said that it is written in the rule book of the college that wearing a Hijab is allowed on campus.
Reality: It is written in the book that girl students are allowed to wear a scarf of the same colour as the dupatta inside the school premises. There is no mention of Hijab in the rule book.
Case-25
Claim: Union Minister Smriti Irani referred to 200 crores free when asked about the high prices of gas cylinders during a press meet.
Reality: In the entire video, while answering the questions, Irani mentioned the Ujjwala scheme and how it benefited the people and not about the high price of the vaccine which were anyways allowed for the people of India, free of cost.
Case-26
Claim: Zubair shared a video where a Kashmiri Pandit woman was seen criticising BJP and the Modi Government. She was seen saying, they did nothing for them and the film ‘Kashmir Files’ did not bring any reality out and that Vivek Agnihotri used the pain of Kashmiri Pandits to make money.
Reality: The woman criticising BJP in the video was a Congress worker, Zubair hide the Congress identity of woman.
Case-27
Claim: Zubair shared a video claiming Golu Gurjar and his friends were seen thrashing Mohsin with slippers and forced him to lick their feets while abusing him.
Reality: There was no communal angle to this case, there was already a dispute going in between the youth.
Case-28
Claim: Pappu Qureshi called himself an ally of Bittu Bajrangi and a supporter of the BJP for the last ten years.
Reality: Pappu Qureshi has never been a member of BJP since 2019, he declared himself a supporter of Congress.
Case-29
Claim: India is one of the top four countries donating to the UN Democracy Fund which runs various NGOs and organisations most of which are linked to George Soros.
Reality: These figures were from 2002 to 2012, since BJP assumed power India has donated barely minimum to this fund.
Case-30
Claim: Israeli Defense Force attacked Gaza’s Ahil Arab City Hospital.
Reality: The hospital in Gaza was not attacked by the IDF but by the Islamists under Hamas operating in the Gaza themselves exploded the hospital.
Case-31
Claim: BJP appointed Sanjay Singh as president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
Reality: There is a difference between being appointed and elected. The WFI is not appointed or nominated, it is elected through voting.
Case-32
Claim: In UP’s Bulandshar, a sarpanch, Yogendra Sharma stopped a Barat procession as it was Dalit’s wedding.
Reality: There was a dispute between the two communities about removing vehicles from the road and not the Brahmin-Dalit issue.
Clase-33
Claim: The National Medical Commission removed the logo of the organisation with Dhanvantri Devi.
Reality: Dhanvantri Devi’s picture was already there is the logo of NMC and no significant changes were made in the logo. The previous picture was black and while, the new one is coloured and India has been replaced with Bharat.
Case-34
Claim: PM Modi promised to provide two crore jobs every year.
Reality: Congress has promised to provide 1 crore jobs every year in their manifesto during 2004 Lok Sabha elections. On November 21, 2013, Modi during a rally in Agra had raised questions on the promises made by the Congress.
Case-35
Claim: BJP formed alliance with SDPI in the Karnataka Gram Panchayat elections.
Reality: BJP did not ally with SDPI, two BJP members cross-voted against the party. Also, the Karnataka State Election Commission instructed candidates in Panchayat to avoid using party symbols and labels.
Case-36
Claims: A Muslim man was threatened and beaten by Hindus on gun point and asked to chop off his beard.
Reality: There is no communal angle in this case, the attackers were however from the Muslim community only.
Case-37
Claims: Jay Shah insulted the Indian flag.
Reality: Jay Shah had not insulted the Indian flag. As per the rules, ICC members cannot be supporters of any particular country and this is why Jay Shah refused to take the tricolour in his hand at that time.
Case-38
Claim: Fire accident happened in Solapur due to an appeal made by PM Modi to switch off lights and lit earthen lamps during Covid-19.
Reality: The incident took place on February 3, 2020, the fire broke out in empty buses near airport in Solapur.
Case-39
Claim: Shiv temple was not attacked during Nuh violence.
Reality: The Shiv Mandir in Nuh was targeted by Islamists and even bullets were fired from behind the temple and stones were also pelted. Zuabir shared an edited video.
Case-40
Claim: Zubair shared a video featuring men with saffron stoles, the caption said, “Bajrang Dal activists with Gun”.
Reality: Zubair shared an edited video when Muslim community attacked the Police and used saffron scarf to shield themselves and hide their real identity.
Case-41
Claim: After the death of a Hindu man due to Covid his family refused to take his boy and a Muslim man did his last rites on his own.
Reality: After the death of the young man, his family joined the procession and the man, who worked at the crementary burned the body.
Case-42
Claim: Zubair tweeted, Ram Mandir chief Mahant Nityanand Gopaldas was Covid positive and shared his pictures from the Bhumi Pujan day.
Reality: The photo of Mahant Gopaldas sitting next of RSS Sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat Ji was edited.
Case-43
Claim: BJP workers caught stealing EVMs during Delhi elections.
Reality: EVMs were not stolen and the claims in the video were about the reserve EVMs.
Case-44
Claims: Zubair tried to show how farmers are being treated as terrorists during the Farm protests.
Reality: The picture was from Meerut, UP which was published in a report of The Hindu in 2013.
Case-46
Claim: From his parody account Zuabir posted a video of protest and called it a video from Delhi.
Reality: The video was from Maratha Kranti Morcha Mumbai.
Case-47
Claim: Dalit Youth shot dead for entering temple.
Reality: There is no caste angle in this case and it was personal dispute. There are proofs from the past showing Dalits are freely allowed to enter the temple.
Case-48
Claim: Slogans of ‘Hindustan Murdabad’ raised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Reality: Gonda Police itself clarified and made it clear that the video was fake.
Case-49
Claim: The bridge built at the cost of Rs 263 crores collapsed within a month.
Reality: Zubair shared a fake news, he used the image of another bridge to claim that the newly constructed bridge has been collapsed.
Case-50
Claim: A 2008 report talked about Islamic banking was chaired by C Rajgopalachari and not Raghuram Rajan.
Reality: In 2008, the committee was chaired by Raghuram Rajan and it presented a report called, “A Hundred Small Steps” and suggested that there should be interest free banking as certain faiths does not believe in interest-based financial services.
Case-51
Claim: RSS worker punched the hotel cashier for refusing to give free biriyani.
Reality: The man who punched the hotel owner for biriyani was not an RSS worker but a DMK worker.
Case-52
Claim: During farmers protest Zubair shared a picture of a clash between a farmer and a police officer and wrote, Lal Bahadur Shashtri Jayanti, Lad Jawan, Lad Kisan.
Reality: The photo Zubair used misleading image hiding the fact how farmers attacked the police.
Case-53
Claim: A teacher making Hindu children beat a Muslim child in school in Muzaffarnagar.
Reality: The allegations were false and it was later revealed that the teacher was handicapped and many other facts.
Case-54
Claim: Zubair shared a report by Indian Express claiming the audio of Kandhavi is fake and he was asking Muslims not to follow social distancing during Covid.
Reality: Delhi police refuted any such claims and questioned the sources cited in the report.
Case-55
Claim: On November 23, Sinha posted a tweet alleging that an image posted by popular Twitter user ‘TrueIndology’ on his Instagram account was fake. It appears from the tweet that Sinha reverse-searched the image and found the source as Getty Images, a stock image platform. Without confirming first where Getty Images got hold of the picture, he made the allegation that True Indology is a fraud.
Reality: True Indology posted the caption as “The wonder that WAS Kashmir: A Hindu Sanyasi sitting on the banks of Dal Lake, Srinagar in 1904. He is almost naked in extreme snow. The climate does not seem to bother him. Sanyasis and pandits along the banks of Dal was once a common sight in Kashmir The emphatic word is “WAS”.”
Case-56
Claim: Alt News posted a report claiming, an RSS-backed event as Muslims celebrated PM Modi’s birthday.
Reality: After many users pointed out that Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind is not affiliated to RSS, Altnews has “updated” its report saying the said Maulana isn’t part of it.
Case-57
Claim: From his parody account Zubair claimed, that the Modi government has now approved 100 per cent FDI in multi brand retail, but its stance while being in opposition was of opposing a 49 per cent approval in single brand retail.
Reality: This allegation is wrong on multiple counts. First, the Modi government hasn’t approved 100 per cent FDI in multi brand retail, but has actually done so in single brand retail. The second allegation is, that the BJP has been opposing FDI in single brand retail. But the truth is that its main opposition has been to FDI for multi-brand retailers, which was reiterated by finance minister Arun Jaitley in 2015.
Case-58
Claim: Sinha used media clip claiming UP police stopped a marriage of couples from different faith.
Reality: UP police had taken action after receiving a missing complaint from girl’s family.
Case-59
Claim: Zubair had also shared a video in which he claimed that the Mayor of Surat was defying lockdown norms when he was prostrating before a Jain monk.
Reality: In reality, the video was from a charity event and the Mayor was only performing an act of ritualistic obeisance as is the norm within the Jain community.
Case-60
Claim: Zubair compared a news of PM Modi’s Mann ki Baat to a news of Mexico using TV for teaching.
Reality: India has been doing it from April. After his lie got caught, he deleted the tweet.
These are some of the many lies spread by the propaganda website and their so-called fact-checkers.
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