Chandrayaan-2: Fake Twitter Handles of ISRO Chief K Sivan Mushroom

One of the accounts in ISRO chairman K Sivan’s name had over 30,000 followers.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Don’t fall for fake news, click here to check out The Quint’s WebQoof stories.  

In the early hours of Saturday, 7 September, Chandrayaan-2 mission faced a setback when Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost communication with its Vikram lander at an altitude of 2.1 km from the lunar surface.

The entire country stood by ISRO and its chairman K Sivan. Amidst all this, a fake Twitter account was made in his name, and it garnered over 30,000 followers.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@KailasavadivooS)

You can find the archived version of the account here.

A clip of him being consoled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after they lost communication with the lander went viral. It was also tweeted by this Twitter page.

You can find the archived version of the tweet here.(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@KailasavadivooS)

The account also shared a link to another Twitter account allegedly of the office of Sivan.

You can find the archived version of the tweet here.(Photo: Twitter/@KailasavadivooS)

MULTIPLE TWITTER ACCOUNTS IN THE NAME OF ISRO CHAIRMAN

Another account, which was later deleted, had over 19,000 followers.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Yet another account, created on September 2019, had 206 followers.

You can find the archived version of the Twitter account here.(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@DrKailasavadiv1)

WHAT WE FOUND

The accounts in the name of Dr K Sivan are fake and are not made or controlled by the chairman himself. The Quint spoke to an ISRO spokesperson who said Dr Sivan does not have an official Twitter account.

The organisation on Sunday confirmed that it has been successful in locating the Vikram lander on the lunar surface and is trying to re-establish contact with it.

FAKE ISRO ACCOUNT

A fake account of ISRO has also popped up. A handle by the name of ‘ISRO Official Update’ with Twitter handle name ‘@shivraj_office’ claims to be the official Twitter account of ISRO.

(Photo: Screengrab of Twitter)

On analysing the activity of this Twitter account, we also came across a few posts that were made by the Twitter account. The posts are political in nature and unrelated, raising questions on the account’s credibility.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ISRO Official Update)

However, it must be noted that the official Twitter account of ISRO is @isro. Further, ISRO has now issued a clarification notifying people about these fake accounts.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on Whatsapp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)