Fact test: US billboard image used to dig up Kejriwal’s ‘free discount’

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, Delhi Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the availability of free electricity and water in the capital has helped women to manage their households efficiently at once, but salaries are not increasing , but things are getting more expensive.

Below, a picture of a billboard aimed at Kejriwal worked on social media. The text on the billboard says: ‘Nothing in this country is free. If you get something without paying for it, thank a taxpayer. Not for Kejriwal. ”

The caption with the photo says: “Such a brilliant storage. Respect a taxpayer. Many Facebook users shared the apparent screenshot and praised the message on the billboard.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the viral picture is changing. The original picture of the billboard is from Alabama, United States, and Kejriwal is not mentioned.

This picture is pretty viral on social media. The archived version of one such post can be seen here.

AFWA investigation

By examining the viral image, we found that many Facebook users shared the same image last year. The only difference was that instead of ‘Not to Kejriwal’ it was said on the billboard: ‘Not to any political party’.

This gave us an idea that the virus image could be changed.

We then tracked down the original Twitter post from which the viral screenshot was taken. In this picture posted on January 14, 2019, the text of the billboard does not end with ‘Not to Kejriwal’ nor to ‘Not for any political party’.

Next we find out that Nilesh Shah, group chair and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management, the same picture on January 11, 2019. He endorsed it: “This is a poster in South Alabama.” This photo shows the text “Real Billboard in Southern Alabama”. A logo of “alfreemarket.com” is also visible on the image.

Using information gathered from Nilesh Shah’s Twitter message, we searched the internet for keywords such as ‘Alabama’ and ‘billboard’. This has led us to several news stories published on Alabama-based websites, such as ‘Alabama Media Group’ and ‘Yellow Hammer News’.

According to these reports, the original picture was first tweeted by the “Alabama Free Market Alliance” (AFMA). The statue was apparently taken in Monroeville, Alabama.

If you compare the viral image of the billboard with the original, it is clear that the two images are exactly the same. The only difference is that the phrase “Not for Kejriwal” was added in the viral picture.

It can therefore be concluded that an altered image of a billboard in Alabama, United States, is being used to dig up Arvind Kejriwal on social media.