Propaganda website Alt News, which had come up with an alleged ‘fact-check’ on Wednesday to give a clean chit to the Congress party in the latest Covid-19 ‘toolkit’ fiasco, has now ended up exposing themselves and as well as the Congress party.
On Wednesday, the so-called fact-checker Alt News had come up with a ‘fact-check’ to whitewash the allegations against the Congress party in the toolkit controversy. The toolkit document, allegedly linked to the Congress party, had got leaked on social media recently, which entailed a detailed plan of action for the Congress leaders and supporters to exploit the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in the country and target the Modi government.
The instructions issued in the Congress toolkit are all-encompassing and extensive to launch a formidable attack against the Modi government when they are engrossed in defeating the raging pandemic. From maligning the Kumbh Mela as a ‘super spreader’ event to unwarranted attacks against PM Modi for the Central Vista project, to collaborating with ‘friendly’ journalists and international media to defame the Modi government, the toolkit prepared by AICC Research Department had detailed instructions to the Congress leaders and supporters to milk the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and mount an anti-Modi propaganda blitz.
The toolkit expose had created a storm across the country, fuelling massive anger against the Congress party. Several people accused the grand old party of indulging in such cheap politics, especially during a national crisis, to further their political agenda against the Modi government. As accusations against the Congress party grew louder, the party entailed the services of the propaganda website Alt News to give a clean chit for themselves.
Alt News comes up with a flawed ‘fact-check’
Alt News hurriedly came up with a ‘fact-check’ report on Wednesday to call it a forged document and blamed BJP and its supporters for spreading misinformation against the Congress party. However, it seems like Alt News has done a very poor job in whitewashing the allegations against the Congress party as they came up with some dubious analysis and ludicrous arguments to claim that the document allegedly prepared by AICC Research Department is a forged one.
Here is a detailed report exposing how propaganda outlet Alt News came with a flawed and laughable logic to wash the sins of the Congress party. In its so-called fact-check, the Alt News gave a clean chit to the Congress party and blamed the BJP and its supporters for pushing misinformation against the BJP.
The lies of Alt News have now fallen like a house of cards as most of their claims are now being debunked. It is important to note that the documents to verify the authenticity of the toolkit was provided to Alt News by the Congress party, demonstrating a close association between the two entities. In response, the Alt News gave a clean chit to the Congress party and declared the toolkit to be fake, albeit based on flimsy arguments.
Alt News peddles fake news, edits their report after getting caught
Hours after Alt News published its so-called ‘fact-check’ to give clean chit to the Congress party, several social media users began questioning their irrational theories in support of the Congress party and highlighted how Alt News used facts selectively to save the Congress party from the heat.
Realizing their mistake, Alt News has now silently altered their earlier ‘fact-check’ to put out more selective facts to defend their earlier argument. According to activist Ankur Singh, Alt News initially argued that the toolkit suggested responding to SoS calls for Covid-19 only when the users tagged the official handle of the Youth Congress (IYC) and shared a screenshot of the one user who did not tag the IYC and yet received help.
However, as it turned, Alt News used a tweet by a person named Sakshi to declare that she was helped despite not tagging the IYC handles. In a hurry to give a clean chit to the Congress party, Alt News deliberately chose only those tweets that did not tag the IYC handle, omitting the ones where the user had tagged the handle.
As expected Congress IT Cell worker @free_thinker has come up with stupid fact checks to say that Toolkit is Fake.
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) May 19, 2021
Alt News gives argument that Toolkit said help only if the person tags IYC and showed one SS that didn’t have tag.
But truth is, she did tag IYC and used hashtag. https://t.co/237kDyBigS pic.twitter.com/FpEZDP85fD
As Ankur Singh exposed the lies of Alt News, the propaganda website has silently edited their so-called ‘fact check’ to delete the reference to Sakshi’s tweets that were used as evidence to prove that the Congress party had indeed helped people who had not tagged the IYC social media handles.
To substantiate their claim, Alt News replaced Sakshi’s tweets with journalist Aditya Raj Kaul’s tweets in its edited report.
Pic 1- Archive of Alt News article
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) May 19, 2021
Pic 2- Alt News edited the article and changed screenshot.
Shows how desperately Alt News is working to save Congress.
Kitna paisa mila dalali ka @free_thinker? https://t.co/GXY3kWqqe9 pic.twitter.com/RqGEAOtXbk
In the edited report, Alt News claimed that IYC had helped Aditya Raj Kaul despite him not tagging the IYC handles or seeking any help from the Congress party. As per Alt News, the toolkit is a forged document as IYC had indeed helped people who had never sought help from the Congress party.
Want to see credibility of Alt News Fact Check?
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) May 19, 2021
First they lied that Sakshi didn’t tag IYC, after expose they changed screenshot.
Toolkit Exposed: 10.01 AM
Aditya’s Tweet: 11.04 PM
Alt News is using tweet done hours after Toolkit Expose to say Toolkit is Fake. Shameless! https://t.co/nLLJgw65E0 pic.twitter.com/9FQU7jNhBx
However, by altering their report, Alt News has actually exposed the Congress party further, rather than saving them from the latest accusations. In its report, Alt News shared a screenshot of Aditya Raj Kaul that was put out on 11:00 PM, May 18, to claim that Congress had helped the journalist even though he had not tagged them.
Alt News’s correction exposed Congress further, validated the claims that toolkit is genuine
Amusingly, Alt News uses a tweet put out by the journalist hours after the toolkit was exposed. Alt News’s latest blunder only proves that the propaganda website and the Congress party are working in tandem. It seems like the Congress party was trying to cover its tracks by allegedly helping people to prove that they were indeed helping those people who have not asked them for any help during the crisis.
Perhaps, in her hurry to absolve the Congress party from accusations of creating a toolkit, Alt News seems to have failed to read the entire toolkit document. It is clearly mentioned in the Congress toolkit that the party workers must help journalists, media professionals and other influencers on a priority basis.
Following the protocol mentioned in the toolkit, the Congress party descended on Aditya Raj Kaul’s timeline to consider his request. It is worth mentioning that the request and help came hours after the toolkit was exposed on Tuesday. It seems like the Congress party was using media influencers to cover its tracks.
5.f says prioritise sos calls from journalist. In place of negating a,b,c,d,e they actually proved 5.f. pic.twitter.com/rrmgUuuSVG
— Sunita ସୁନିତା ಸುನೀತಾ 🇮🇳 (@sunita1712) May 19, 2021
The tweet by Aditya Raj Kaul calling for help and the immediate response by the Congress party only proves that the Congress party was religiously following the protocols put out in the ‘toolkit’. To simply put, by adding Aditya Raj Kaul’s tweet, the Alt News has now exposed the modus-operandi of the Congress party, who were eager to help the journalists and media influencers despite no request from them.
