We have often seen mainstream media outlets and people associated with the mainstream media blame “trolls” on social media for spreading wrong information. Although media itself has gotten far too many things wrong, sometimes some of the information circulated on social media also is not accurate.
For example we had just posted how an “investigative news portal” called Cobrapost, picked up a random video from social media and publicised it as if it was a recent happening. The video showed the Indian army killing a Pakistani terrorist in 2011, but Cobrapost presented that as a recent video, and did not mention that the man killed was in fact a terrorist.
Just today Rana Ayyub, who is commonly seen on mainstream media debates used her twitter account to spread gross untruths. Last year Rana Ayyub was involved in falsely naming RSS chief in a nun rape case, whereas the actual culprits were Bangladeshis. Ayyub posted this tweet:
https://twitter.com/RanaAyyub/status/754589300977643520
Even as her tweet was being shared among her followers and beyond, some others, including some from her own fraternity, were busy correcting her:
https://twitter.com/ShivAroor/status/754618201879609345
https://twitter.com/ShivAroor/status/754640223015833600
https://twitter.com/UnSubtleDesi/status/754623466234454016
https://twitter.com/srirambjp/status/754663072275587072
Yes, on both the counts, Rana Ayyub was wrong. Not only does the army not use pellet guns, even the photo used by this “investigative journalist” was from 2015.
Even after being called out and criticised by many including her media colleagues, Rana Ayyub did not yield. The tweet remains as it is, there is no apology. Will the Information and Broadcasting ministry take action? Will the Army take note of this defamatory tweet? Will any action be taken for a tweet which tried to spread discontent towards the Indian army by using inaccurate information?