Babar Azam
The allegations that Pakistani captain Babar Azam was “sexting” another player’s girlfriend are all over the Indian media. The issue is that the misleading information came from a parody account’s “joke” tweet.
The media failed to notice — or deliberately decided to ignore — the fact that the Twitter account was not intended to be taken seriously, demonstrating how false information can turn into accepted truth and explode online.
The spoof account’s unknown creator apologised to Azam, who has been silent throughout, on Twitter and criticised India’s “clown media” in the process.
The original tweet from the “Dr Nimo Yadav” account on January 15 — which has since been removed — said that Azam had been “sexting with gf [girlfriend] of another Pakistan cricketer.”
Additionally, the account tweeted to its more than 27,000 followers that the player was “promise her that her bf (boyfriend) won’t be out of team if she keeps sexting with him.”
The tweet included a topless man in bed who allegedly resembled Azam and a screenshot of Azam with a heart placed on it. The owner of the Twitter account said that he took the photo and video from an Instagram account that has since been deleted.
The post was spread widely across media in India and internationally despite the fact that the Twitter handle is flagged as a “Parody account.”
The fraudulent claim was still there on at least eight Indian news websites on Wednesday, even after the owner of the Twitter account reiterated that the message was incorrect when he deleted it the following day.
One international sports website removed its piece after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) expressed its anger at its “media partner” for reporting on the “unsubstantiated personal charges,” even though it had quoted the “verified Twitter account Dr Nimo Yadav.”
