Image of Aaj Tak's Tweet on 'BJP Apologising to Gandhi Family' is Fake!

Red flags in the viral tweet suggested that it is fake and that Aaj Tak didn't share any such information.

Social media users shared a fake tweet on the BJP apologising to the Gandhi family, that was attributed to media outlet Aaj Tak.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A viral image of a tweet purportedly shared by Hindi news channel Aaj Tak is being widely shared on social media platforms, claiming that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) couldn't find any evidence of corruption against the Gandhi family and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) allegedly apologised to the family in a court.

However, we found red flags in the viral tweet that suggested that it is fake and that the said news channel didn't share any such information.

CLAIM

The viral tweet in Hindi reads: "गांधी परिवार के खिलाफ सीबीआई नहीं ढूंढ पाई एक भी भ्रष्टाचार का सबूत, कोर्ट में गांधी परिवार से भाजपा ने मांगी माफ़ी "

(Translation: The CBI could not find even a single shred of evidence of corruption against Gandhi family, BJP apologised to the Gandhi family in court.)

You can view the archived version here.

(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

Several social media users shared the image on Facebook and Twitter and the archived version of the posts can be viewed here, here, and here.

The image is viral on Facebook.

(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

The Quint received multiple queries regarding the viral tweet on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On carefully looking at the viral screenshot, we noticed that the format is similar to the view seen on desktop. We also compared it to the view seen on TweetDeck, Android and iOS to highlight the difference.

The elements such as a comma between the date and year can be seen in viral image and Aaj Tak's tweet viewed on desktop, but not in the TweetDeck view.

Also, the horizontal placement of the three dots is identical in desktop view and the viral image.

Left: Viral image. Middle: Desktop view. Right: TweetDeck view.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint

Even though the horizontal placement of the three dots is identical in the viral image and iPhone view, the dateline format isn't the same.

Left: Viral image. Middle: Android device. Right: iOS device.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

THEN WHAT'S MISSING?

While there are similarities between the desktop view and viral image (which rules out the possibility that the image could be from TweetDeck, iPhone or Android), there is a missing feature in the viral tweet which raises a red flag.

The 'translate tweet' prompt – which appears between the text and the dateline – is missing.

The 'translate tweet' prompt appears in the tweet is in a language other than your selected language. 

(Source: Aaj Tak/Screenshot)

As per the information available on Twitter's Help Center, if a translation is available for a tweet, the 'Translate tweet' prompt will be visible directly under its text.

Twitter's rules on translating tweets.

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

However, the translation will appear if the language selected by the user is different from the language in which the tweet appears.

For instance, if one has changed the language to Hindi using Twitter settings, then all the tweets carrying text in Hindi will not show the prompt.

In this case, the prompt will appear when the text of the tweet is in English. (Note: Swipe right to see the images.)

Appearance of tweet when the language chosen in desktop view is English.

Appearance of tweet when the language chosen in desktop view is Hindi.

DOES THAT MEAN THAT THIS TWEET IS REAL?

Well, no. There is another difference to be highlighted.

If you change the language to Hindi, then even the dateline appears in the chosen language.

Left: Viral image. Right: Language chosen is Hindi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A comparison of viral image with a tweet shared by Aaj Tak (when the chosen language is Hindi) showed that while 'translate tweet' doesn't appear in both, however, the dateline in the latter is in Hindi and not English, as seen in the viral image.

AAJ TAK CALLS OUT VIRAL TWEET

We also came across a Facebook post shared by by Aaj Tak on Tuesday, 31 August, that mentioned that the viral tweet is "fake."

Aaj Tak stated that the viral tweet is fake.

(Source: Aaj Tak/ Facebook/ Screenshot)

Moreover, we didn't find any news reports on the incident mentioned in the viral tweet, which is unlikely had the information been true.

Evidently, social media users shared a fake tweet attributed to media outlet Aaj Tak.

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