Government's fake news account challenged by imposter Twitter handle

The fake news problem is fast becoming an impending threat to the virtual world. Not limited to social media, consequences of fake news are known to translate into the ‘real world’ to have resulted in shocking incidents like mob lynchings.

To counter the problem, the government recently launched a Twitter account @FakeNews_Buster — aimed at countering false news circulated through the internet. 

However, soon after the government launched its handle, an imposter Twitter handle with the same display picture, title and information used on the real account sprang up.

The government was quick to issue a clarification to distinguish between the fake and the real Twitter handles.

The original account has 20,009 followers so far, while the one implying to a genuine one has over 400 followers.

Social media users can identify the fake account through its description that says: “Twitter Handle of Ministry of Interior & BroadCoasting for Exposing #FakeNews”. The misspelt ‘broadcasting’ gives the fake account away and usage of ‘Ministry of Interior’ instead of the ‘Ministry of Information’ gives away the fake account.

Surprisingly, the account’s date of joining Twitter is listed as June 2018, which makes it likely that the account’s name was recently changed.

Through a Twitter post, the information ministry warned social media users against the fake account. According to a tweet by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s official account, the FakeNewsBusterMoIB page will be used to give the “official response” to “false propaganda” on social media in a timely manner.

The account (Twitter handle @FakeNews_Buster) will also be used to “identify the users who spread fake news and requests will be made to take action against them”, it said.