#FactCheck-16-Year-Old Bronx Fire Rescue Video Misrepresented as Lucknow Incident

Introduction

The information of hundreds of thousands of Indians who received the COVID vaccine was Leaked in a significant data breach and posted on a Telegram channel. Numerous reports claim that sensitive information, including a person’s phone number, gender, ID card details, and date of birth, leaked over Telegram. It could be obtained by typing a person’s name into a Telegram bot.

What really happened?

The records pertaining to the mobile number registered in the CoWin portal are accessible on the Malayalam news website channel. It is also feasible to determine which vaccination was given and where it was given.

According to The Report, the list of individuals whose data was exposed includes BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, and former BJP union minister for health Harsh Vardhan. Telangana’s minister of information and communication technology, Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, is also on the list.

MEITY stated in response to the data leak, “It is old data, we are still confirming it. We have requested a report on the matter.

After the media Report, the bot was disabled, but experts said the incident raised severe issues because the information might be used for identity theft, phishing emails, con games, and extortion calls. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the government’s nodal body, has opened an investigation into the situation

The central government declared the data breach reports regarding the repository of beneficiaries against Covid to be “mischievous in nature” on Monday and claimed the ‘bot’ that purportedly accessed the confidential data was not directly accessing the CoWIN database.

According to the first complaint by CERT-In, the government’s cybersecurity division, the government claimed the bot might be displaying information from “previously stolen data.” Reports.

The health ministry refuted the claim, asserting that no bots could access the information without first verifying with a one-time password.

“It is made clear that all of these rumours are false and malicious. The health ministry’s CoWIN interface is entirely secure and has sufficient data privacy protections. The security of the data on the CoWIN portal is being ensured in every way possible, according to a statement from the health ministry.

Meity said the CoWin program or database was not directly compromised, and the shared information appeared to be taken from a previous intrusion. But the hack again highlights the growing danger of cyber assaults, particularly on official websites.‍

Recent cases of data leak

Dominos India 2021– Dominos India, a division of Jubilant FoodWorks, faced a cyberattack on May 22, 2021, which led to the disclosure of information from 180 million orders. The breach exposed order information, email addresses, phone numbers, and credit card information. Although Jubilant FoodWorks acknowledged a security breach, it refuted any illegal access to financial data.

Air India – A cyberattack that affected Air India in May 2021 exposed the personal information of about 4.5 million customers globally. Personal information recorded between August 26, 2011, and February 3, 2021, including names, dates of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket details, frequent flyer information from Star Alliance and Air India, and credit card information, were exposed in the breach.

Bigbasket – BigBasket, an online supermarket, had a data breach in November 2020, compromising the personal information of approximately 20 million consumers. Email IDs, password hashes, PINs, phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth, localities, and IP addresses were among the information released from an insecure database containing over 15 GB of customer data. BigBasket admitted to the incident and reported it to the Bengaluru Cyber Crime Department.

Unacademy – Unacademy, an online learning platform, experienced a data breach in May 2020, compromising the email addresses of approximately 11 million subscribers. While no sensitive information, such as financial data or passwords, was compromised, user data, including IDs, passwords, date joined, last login date, email IDs, names, and user credentials, was. The breach was detected when user accounts were uncovered for sale on the dark web.

2022 Card Data- Cybersecurity researchers from AI-driven Singapore-based CloudSEK found a threat actor offering a database of 1.2 million cards for free on a Dark Web forum for crimes on October 12, 2022. This came after a second problem involving 7.9 million cardholder records that were reported on the BidenCash website. This comprised information pertaining to State Bank of India (SBI) clients. And other well-known companies were among those targeted in high-profile data breach cases that have surfaced in recent years.

Conclusion

Data breach cases are increasing daily, and attackers are mainly attacking the healthcare sectors and health details as they can easily find personal details. This recent CoWIN case has compromised thousands of people’s data. The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences’ systems were compromised by hackers a few months ago. Over 95% of adults have had their vaccinations, according to the most recent data, even if the precise number of persons impacted by the CoWin privacy breach could not be determined.

Executive Summary:

A post on X (formerly Twitter) featuring an image that has been widely shared with misleading captions, claiming to show men riding an elephant next to a tiger in Bihar, India. This post has sparked both fascination and skepticism on social media. However, our investigation has revealed that the image is misleading. It is not a recent photograph; rather, it is a photo of an incident from 2011. Always verify claims before sharing.

Claims:

An image purporting to depict men riding an elephant next to a tiger in Bihar has gone viral, implying that this astonishing event truly took place.

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Fact Check:

After investigation of the viral image using Reverse Image Search shows that it comes from an older video. The footage shows a tiger that was shot after it became a man-eater by forest guard. The tiger killed six people and caused panic in local villages in the Ramnagar division of Uttarakhand in January, 2011. 

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Before sharing viral posts, take a brief moment to verify the facts. Misinformation spreads quickly and it’s far better to rely on trusted fact-checking sources.

Conclusion:

The claim that men rode an elephant alongside a tiger in Bihar is false. The photo presented as recent actually originates from the past and does not depict a current event. Social media users should exercise caution and verify sensational claims before sharing them.

• Claim: The video shows people casually interacting with a tiger in Bihar
• Claimed On:Instagram and X (Formerly Known As Twitter)
• Fact Check: False and Misleading

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Introduction

Since the inception of the Internet and social media platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, etc., the government and various other stakeholders in both foreign jurisdictions and India have looked towards the intermediaries to assume responsibility for the content floated on these platforms, and various legal provisions showcase that responsibility. For the first time in many years, these intermediaries come together to moderate the content by setting a standard for the creators and propagators of this content. The influencer marketing industry in India is at a crucial juncture, with its market value projected to exceed Rs. 3,375 crore by 2026. But every industry is coupled with its complications; like in this scenario, there is a section of content creators who fail to maintain the standard of integrity and propagate content that raises concerns of authenticity and transparency, often violating intellectual property rights (IPR) and privacy. 

As influencer marketing continues to shape digital consumption, the need for ethical and transparent content grows stronger. To address this, the India Influencer Governing Council (IIGC) has released its Code of Standards, aiming to bring accountability and structure to the fast-evolving online space.

Bringing Accountability to the Digital Fame Game

The India Influencer Governing Council (IIGC), established on 15th February, 2025, is founded with the objective to empower creators, advocate for fair policies, and promote responsible content creation. The IIGC releases the Code of Standard, not a moment too soon; it arrives just in time, a necessary safeguard before social media devolves into a chaotic marketplace where anything and everything is up for grabs. Without effective regulation, digital platforms become the marketplace for misinformation and exploitation. 

The IIGC leads the movement with clarity, stating that the Code is a significant piece that spans across 20 crucial sections governing key areas such as paid partnership disclosures, AI-generated personas, content safety, and financial compliance. 

Highlights from the Code of Standard

• The Code exhibits a technical understanding of the industry of content creation and influencer marketing. The preliminary sections advocate for accuracy, transparency, and maintaining credibility with the audience that engages with the content. Secondly, the most fundamental development is with regard to the “Paid Partnership Disclosure” included in Section 2 of the Code that mandates disclosure of any material connection, such as financial agreements or collaboration with the brand.
• Another development, which potently comes at a befitting hour, is the disclosure of “AI Influencers”, which establishes that the nature of the influencer has to be disclosed, and such influencers, whether fully virtual or partially AI-enhanced, must maintain the same standards as any human influencer. 
• The code ranges across various other aspects of influencer marketing, such as expressing unpaid “Admiration” for the brand and public criticism of the brand, being free from personal bias, honouring financial agreements, non-discrimination, and various other standards that set the stage for a safe and fair digital sphere. 
• The Code also necessitates that the platform users and the influencers handle sexual and sensitive content with sincere deliberation, and usage of such content shall be for educational and health-related contexts and must not be used against community standards. The Code includes various other standards that work towards making digital platforms safer for younger generations and impressionable minds. 

A Code Without Claws? Challenges in Enforcement 

The biggest obstacle to the effective implementation of the code is distinguishing between an honest promotion and a paid brand collaboration without any explicit mention of such an agreement. This makes influencer marketing susceptible to manipulation, and the manipulation cannot be tackled with a straitjacket formula, as it might be found in the form of exaggerated claims or omission of critical information.  

Another hurdle is the voluntary compliance of the influencers with the advertising standards. Influencer marketing is an exercise in a borderless digital cyberspace, where the influencers often disregard the dignified standards to maximise their earnings and commercial motives. 

The debate between self-regulation and government oversight is constantly churning, where experience tells us that overreliance on self-regulation has proven to be inadequate, and succinct regulatory oversight is imperative in light of social media platforms operating as a transnational commercial marketplace. 

CyberPeace Recommendations

• Introduction of a licensing framework for influencers that fall into the “highly followed” category with high engagement, who are more likely to shape the audience’s views. 
• Usage of technology to align ethical standards with influencer marketing practices, ensuring that misleading advertisements do not find a platform to deceive innocent individuals.
• Educating the audience or consumers on the internet about the ramifications of negligence and their rights in the digital marketplace. Ensuring a well-established grievance redressal mechanism via digital regulatory bodies. 
• Continuous and consistent collaboration and cooperation between influencers, brands, regulators, and consumers to establish an understanding and foster transparency and a unified objective to curb deceptive advertising practices. 

References

• https://iigc.org/code-of-standards/influencers/code-of-standards-v1-april.pdf
• https://legalonus.com/the-impact-of-influencer-marketing-on-consumer-rights-and-false-advertising/
• https://exhibit.social/news/india-influencer-governing-council-iigc-launched-to-shape-the-future-of-influencer-marketing/

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