New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS): The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday described a video doing the rounds on the Internet claiming that Bangladeshi Hindus crossing Indian borders post passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 as fake and said that the video was first uploaded on January 22, 2019.
The I&B Ministry has set up a fact-checking unit in the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to verify news related to the government's ministries, departments and schemes and to alert the public about fake news in circulation.
In a tweet, the PIB said, "Claim: A video claiming Bangladeshi Hindus crossing India border post CAB2019, is doing the rounds of Social Media. Reality: Search using appropriate tool reveals this is an old video which is being re-used out of context. Conclusion: Fake News."
Sharing the reality of the video, the PIB said: "We found that the video was available on internet since January 2019. A Hindu news website has published the same video on January 22, 2019."
The I&B Ministry had earlier this month urged the people to email snapshots of any "dubious materiala they come across on any platform, including social media, and they will get it checked, but added that only material related to government ministries, departments and schemes will be fact-checked".
On many occasions, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar has called for combating fake news, terming it more "dangerous" than "paid news".