In a major embarrassment to leftist propaganda website, The Wire was found trying to pass off ‘study’ of social media trends conducted by five individuals, one of whom is associated with the University of Michigan, US, as that of an official study by the university. The discrepancy was pointed out by various social media users.
https://twitter.com/BefittingFacts/status/1313160787167383557?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIn its article titled “Sushant Singh Rajput: Study Reveals BJP’s Hand in Hyping Conspiracy Theories”, The Wire claimed that the University of Michigan carried out a study wherein “members of the BJP” were the ones who were ‘amplifying’ what The Wire claims is conspiracy theory on his death under mysterious circumstances.
The ‘study’ claimed that they ‘analysed’ social media trends over three months to conclude that pro-BJP social media handles ‘cranked up the rumour mill’. The Wire claimed that people demanding fair probe by Mumbai Police in the actor’s death was ‘troll attacks’. Nowhere in the article does The Wire clarify that this is not an official study by the University of Michigan.
Interestingly, the link of the ‘study’ which is used by The Wire leads to the landing page of one of the individual who spent time ‘analysing’ social media trends. The five individuals who conducted the study are: Syeda Zainab Akbar, Ankur Sharma, Himani Negi, Anmol Panda, and Joyojeet Pal. Syeda Zainab Akbar, Ankur Sharma, Himanshi Negi and Amol Panda are all researcher at Microsoft Research, Bengaluru.
OpIndia has reached out to University of Michigan to confirm whether the above ‘study’ is the official study of the university. We shall update the report once we hear back from them.