Here’s a round-up of misleading claims that have been doing the rounds in the recent past:
Indonesia bridge collapse falsely linked to Assam floods
A dramatic video, purporting to show the collapse of a bridge in Assam, went viral on social media at a time when the State was reeling from deadly floods.
The clip was widely shared not only on social media, but also by mainstream news outlets like NDTV India, India TV, and TV9 Hindi.
By performing a reverse image search on the keyframes extracted from the video, The Hindu traced it back to a 2021 report by the Indonesian news portal Tribunnews.
The report identified the structure as Kambaniru bridge in East Nusa Tenggara, a province of Indonesia.
Using relevant keywords, we also found a 2021 news report by Indonesian TV channel iNews, which also featured the bridge in question.
Hence, an old video of a bridge collapse in Indonesia has been falsely linked to the recent floods in Assam.
Fact check: Misleading
Old clip used to describe flooding in Jodhpur
In the wake of the unprecedented rain in Rajasthan, a video showing people being swept away by floodwaters has gone viral on social media.
The Facebook post, which has been viewed over 29,000 times as of August 6, shows a couple of people being carried away by floodwaters before others come to their rescue.
The Hindu found that the clip was at least two years old.
Through a reverse image search, we found the same video in a tweet posted by CNN-News18 on August 14, 2020. It was captioned: “Parts of Jaipur experienced flood-like situation after heavy rains.”
CBS News had also shared the same video in a report published around the same time. This report, too, mentioned that the incident occurred in Jaipur.
We also came across a tweet posted by Soumit Mohan on August 14, 2020, in which he claimed that the video was much older than previously thought.
However, we were unable to find the same clip uploaded or published on any platform before 2020. Nonetheless, it is clear that the video is at least two years old, and is not related to the recent rain and flooding in Jodhpur.
Fact check: Misleading
2020 video from Jammu passed off as recent clip of Akkalkuwa-Ankleshwar bridge collapse
Against the backdrop of heavy rains in Maharashtra and Gujarat, a clip is being circulated on social media with the claim that it shows the collapse of a bridge connecting Akkalkuwa to Ankleshwar.
The post has been shared over 300 times and garnered over 3,000 likes, as of August 3. But it is misleading, as The Hindu found that it pertains to an incident that took place in Jammu in 2020.
A reverse image search led us to a tweet posted by ANI on August 26, 2020, which contained the same clip and identified the place as Gadigarh in Jammu.
NDTV had also carried a report on the incident on the same day.
Hence, visuals from Jammu, dating back to 2020, have been passed off as a recent clip of the collapse of the Akkalkuwa-Ankleshwar bridge.
Fact check: Misleading
This flooded street is in Haryana, not Delhi
“How beautiful is this Delhi, how beautiful are the roads here; The system here is commendable, the government here is wonderful #DelhiRains,” said a sarcastic tweet that was posted in the wake of heavy rain in the national capital.
The post contained a video purporting to show people wading through a waterlogged road in Delhi. But The Hindu found that the clip was actually from Haryana.
While looking for clues in the video, we noticed a shop called Chopra Electricals, and a Jio showroom next to it.
We then searched for Chopra Electricals on Google Maps and traced it to Rohtak in Haryana. Using Street View, we were able to confirm the location of the shop, as the nameboards matched the ones featured in the video.
The waterlogged road featured in the video is located in Haryana, and has nothing to do with the downpour in Delhi.
Fact check: Misleading
2021 video from Uttarakhand passed off as recent rescue operation in Rajasthan
A video showing Army personnel forming a human chain in the midst of floodwaters and rescuing stranded people is doing the rounds on social media.
The clip was shared on Twitter with the claim that it was from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan.
But The Hindu found that it was from Nainital in Uttarakhand, and dated back to 2021.
Through a reverse image search, we found the same video in a report by The Quint , dated October 20, 2021.
CNN-News18 had also shared the clip around the same time.
NDTV had reported that dozens of people had died as rain battered Uttarakhand for several days in a row, prompting the deployment of the State Disaster Response Force, the National Disaster Response Force and the Army for rescue operations.
We were therefore able to conclude that the video was from Uttarakhand, not Rajasthan.
Fact check: misleading
Clip of bikes crashing on a flyover is from Karachi, not Mumbai
A video of several bikes crashing on a flyover has been posted on Twitter, with the claim that the incident occurred at Sanpada in Mumbai.
The dramatic clip shows motorcyclists falling off their sliding vehicles in the midst of traffic, on a seemingly rainy day. But things are not what they seem.
The Hindu split the video into keyframes and performed a reverse image search, which led us to a report by Pakistan Daily.
According to the report, the incident took place in Karachi, where “Rain showers [sic] mixed with the oil on the city roads caused dozens of vehicles to skid, several leading to accidents”.
Further, to confirm the location, we looked for landmarks in the video. There were two hints - a Honda showroom and a Vivo showroom next to it.
We searched for the Honda showroom on Google Maps and traced it to Rashid Minhas Road, Karachi. The premises matched the one featured in the video.
With this, we were able to conclude that the incident occurred in Karachi, not Mumbai.
Fact check: Misleading
From where is this viral video of autorickshaw driver dancing in the rain?
A clip of an autorickshaw driver dancing on a flooded road has gone viral, with some claiming it is from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and others saying it is from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan.
While a Facebook post claiming the visuals were from Sri Ganganagar was shared over 3,000 times and garnered over 4,000 likes, The Times of India posted the same clip on its website, claiming it was from Bhopal.
The Hindu found that the clip was neither from Bhopal nor Rajasthan, but from Gujarat.
A search using the keywords “auto driver dancing in rain” in Google took us to an article on the vibesofindia portal, which identified the man as Naresh Sondarwa, a resident of Bharuch in Gujarat.
We then searched “Naresh Sondarwa” and came across a Facebook profile with the same name. The user had shared the same clip from various sources and specifically thanked the people of Bharuch for popularising it.
Among his posts, we found a longer version of the viral video.
The facebook user had also shared an article by Divyabhaskar featuring him.
From this, we could conclude that the clip was indeed from Gujarat.
Fact check: Misleading
