Busting Islamist information warfare network on Twitter, DFRAC reveals Twitter used as propaganda tool

New Delhi, Jan 27: Twitter is the biggest platform for sharing information but it is now being used as a propaganda tool by anti-Indians to harm the country's image, Indian non-profit fact-checking website Digital Forensics, Research and Analytics Center (DFRAC) revealed.

 

 

 Original image used by DFRAC for their report

 

 

DFRAC analysed the Twitter account @MuslimsinIndia7, created with the intention to harm India's international image @MuslimsinIndia7 in an old post dated July 11, 2022, tweeted that mosques in Kashmir were closed on Eid al-Adha and Muslims were not allowed to celebrate Eid. DFRAC, to verify the claims, searched Google for news related to Eid in Kashmir.

 

 

 

 

There, they found reports from leading valley newspapers of Kashmir, The Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Observer, in which it was said that except the historic Jamia Masjid in the old city, Eid al-Adha was celebrated at all Muslim places of worship across the valley. More than 45,000 people offered prayers at Hazratbal Dargah. Therefore, according to DFRAC, @MuslimsinIndia7's claim of India keeping mosques closed on Eid al-Adha in Kashmir is Fake.

 

 

 

 

 

Also on November 6, 2022, @MuslimsinIndia7 shared a video of a rally claiming that protests are continuing in the Valley of India over the change in Kashmir's identity and demographics. DFRAC team to verify the claims, keyframed the video using InVID tool. A reverse search of the keyframes led them to reports by TwoCirclesNet.

 

It was learned that the protest marches were taken out from Kupwara to Jammu by the members of the Gujjar Bakarwal community in Jammu and Kashmir against the Indian government's proposal to include hill people in the ST category, according to DFRAC. DFRAC hence proved that @MuslimsinIndia7's claim that Gujjars and Bakarwals were protesting against the Indian government's attempt to change Kashmir's identity and demography was misleading. 

 

 

 

 

On Oct 5, 2022, @MuslimsinIndia7 posted a video on Twitter claiming that six Kashmiri youths were killed by the Indian Army. The bodies of some youths are visible at the beginning of the video. Later, a man is seen carrying the body of a young man in his lap. DFRAC to verify the claim, keyframed the video using the InVID tool. Then on reverse searching the keyframes, they found a similar video on YouTube, in which it was reported that a civilian died in a misfiring incident in Pulwama. DFRAC's fact check, hence, confirms that @MuslimsinIndia7's claim that six Kashmiri youths were killed in Kashmir by the Indian Army in a barrage of bullets is fake.

 

 

Regarding the Twitter accounts mentioned in the entire episode, the Center writes that the graph below shows that @MuslimsinIndia7 mentioned @AJArabic the maximum number of times, 252 times. It is followed by @TRTArabi 166 times and @SupportProphetM more than 130 times.

 

 

 

The report further goes on mentioning that that a special report has already been done by DFRAC on @SupportProphetM with the title ‘International campaign of anti-India agenda in the garb of Prophet Muhammad’. In the report, the center had exposed the anti-India campaign of @SupportProphetM after the controversial statement given by former spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party, Nupur Sharma, on Prophet Muhammad.

 

 

 

 

 

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