On Prophet row, Pakistani social media handles spread maximum fake news: Report

A report by Digital Forensics Research and Analytics Centre has revealed that the row over former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's comment on Prophet Muhammad led to several misinformation campaigns against India, and a major source of these campaigns has been traced to Pakistan. In its report, it has identified particular handles and Twitter hashtags in this connection.

Nupur Sharma's comment on Prophet Muhammad during a live television debate stirred an international row as several Muslim nations raised the issue with India. While BJP suspended Nupur Sharma from the primary membership of the party, the government said Nupur Sharma's comments did not reflect the government's stand. Calls to boycott Indian products from those countries were also made.

The analysis report claimed many social media users passed off fake news at this time by sharing fake screenshots. One of the most viral ones was a claim that English cricketer Moeen Munir Ali called for a boycott of the Indian Premier League and sought an apology from Nupur Sharma. The claim was false.

The report also claimed that it was falsely reported that the Grand Mufti of Oman Sheikh Ahmad bin Hamad Al-Khalil announced the boycott of Indian products. While he criticised Nupur Sharma's remark, it is misleading to claim that he started the Boycott India trend, the analysis said.

Retired Pakistani diplomat Abdul Basit, who served as the former high commissioner of Pakistan to India, in an interview, confused the identity of expelled BJP leader Naveen Jindal and called him the brother of industrialist Sajjan Jindal, the report said.

The profiles of those who interacted with the trending hashtags on Twitter at that time have been scrutinised and it has been found that over 7,000 accounts were from Pakistan, the analysis claimed. Almost 3,000 users were from Saudi Arabia, 2,500 were from India, 1,400 were from Egypt and over 1,000 were from the US and Kuwait, it said.