Bengal police get 500+ fake social media posts deleted

KOLKATA:

Bengal

police have got more than 500 fake posts deleted from social media of “post-poll violence in Bengal” and “Hindu genocide in Bengal” in the last 96 hours but the numbers are just one indicator of the enormity of the problem. Among images sought to be passed off as “Bengal violence images” are old photos from Brazil, Venezuela and Bangladesh.


On Sunday, the Bengal CID tweeted a video link where a verified user — Chaudhary Amit Singh — claimed a man was beaten and assaulted with sticks and stones. The video had originated from Brazil, and is at least three years old, the CID said. Also, a 2018 video from Venezuela has been shared on social media as a political worker being lynched in Bengal in post-poll violence by “TMC goons”. Kolkata police has flagged a Bangladeshi video that was being passed off as an attack on a polling agent in Bengal. After this, half a dozen videos have surfaced with morphed images from incidents which took place in Bangladesh, sources said.

Since May 5, the number of fake videos under surveillance is stated to be in the hundreds. The CID has contacted social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and have taken down close to 300 posts and accounts. The Kolkata police claimed on Sunday that it had flagged and removed 200 others.

Investigators say there has been special emphasis on a few districts, from where the volumes are higher. The state police have lodged five FIRs in Cooch Behar alone. CID sources said most of the rehashed old incidents are those that were reported from UP, Bihar and Odisha.


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