CleanupBot at 04:29, 13 August 2021

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}{{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}}
{{short description|Indian fact-checking website}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Alt News
| logo = AltNews.in logo.jpg
| logo_size = 100px
| screenshot =
| foundation = 2017
| founder = Pratik Sinha, Mohammed Zubair<ref>{{Cite news|last=Joy|first=Shemin|date=6 September 2020|title=FIR against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair on NCPCR complaint|work=Deccan Herald|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/national/fir-against-alt-news-co-founder-mohammed-zubair-on-ncpcr-complaint-883357.html}}</ref>
| location_city = [[Ahmedabad]]
| location_country = India
| products = Web portal
| owner = Pravda Media Foundation<ref>{{cite web|url=https://analyticsindiamag.com/platforms-busting-fake-news-social-media/|title=Top 7 Platforms That Are Busting Fake News On Social Media|work=Analytics India|access-date=10 February 2018}}</ref>
| homepage = {{URL|https://www.altnews.in}}
}}
'''Alt News''' is an Indian non-profit [[List of fact-checking websites|fact checking website]] founded and run by former software engineer Pratik Sinha and Muhammed Zubair.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/special/busting-fake-news-who-funds-whom/20180408.htm|title=Busting fake news: Who funds whom?|first=Sai|last=Manish|date=8 April 2018|website=[[Business Standard]]|language=en|access-date=2020-03-03|via=[[Rediff.com]]}}</ref><ref name=hindu>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/society/on-the-origin-of-specious-news/article19184953.ece|title=On the origin of specious news|first=Saurya|last=Sengupta|date=1 July 2017|access-date=7 November 2017|via=The Hindu}}</ref> It was launched on 9 February 2017 to combat the phenomenon of [[fake news]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/fake-news-in-the-time-of-the-internet/689738/|title=Fake news in the time of the internet|date=28 May 2017|work=[[The Financial Express (India)|The Financial Express]]|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/05/26/10-instances-that-show-a-fake-news-explosion-is-taking-place-in_a_22104789/|title=10 Instances That Show A Fake News Explosion Is Taking Place In India|work=[[HuffPost]]|date=26 May 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/breaking-fake-news/articleshow/58662449.cms|last=Dhawan|first=Himanshi|title=Breaking fake news|work=The Times of India|date=15 May 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> Alt News was a signatory partner of the [[International Fact-Checking Network]] until April 2020.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Pravda Media Foundation Profile | url=https://ifcncodeofprinciples.poynter.org/profile/pravda-media-foundation | work=[[International Fact-Checking Network]], Poynter}}</ref>{{refn|<ref>{{Cite news|last=Alawadhi|first=Neha|date=2020-05-04|title=WhatsApp launches chatbot to bust fake news, allies with global group|work=Business Standard India|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/whatsapp-launches-chatbot-to-bust-fake-news-allies-with-global-group-120050401164_1.html|access-date=2020-08-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Tiwari|first=Ayush|title=The embarrassment that is PIB Fact Check: Who fact-checks this 'fact checker'?|url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/05/26/the-embarrassment-that-is-pib-fact-check-who-fact-checks-this-fact-checker|access-date=2020-08-25|website=Newslaundry|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=A fact-checker's life: Exposing fake news and communalism, surviving social boycott|url=https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/features-2/a-fact-checkers-life-exposing-fake-news-and-communalism-surviving-social-boycott-5266341.html|access-date=2020-08-25|website=Moneycontrol}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Mantas|first=Harrison|date=20 May 2020|title=Why would Indian police issue and then withdraw a manual on misinformation? Political divides could be the answer|url=https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/why-would-indian-police-issue-and-then-withdraw-a-manual-on-misinformation-political-divides-could-be-the-answer/|website=[[Poynter Institute]]|language=en-US}}</ref>}}

== History ==
Alt News was founded in [[Ahmedabad]]<ref name="newsminute">{{cite web|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/stop-misinformation-ask-questions-interview-alt-news-founder-pratik-sinha-100489|title=To stop misinformation, ask questions: Interview with Alt News founder Pratik Sinha|work=[[The News Minute]]}}</ref> by Pratik Sinha, a former software engineer and son of [[Mukul Sinha]], who was a trained physicist, lawyer and human rights activist and the founder and president of [[Jan Sangharsh Manch]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/Politics/b8AgLS4EO2P24wmuKxsq5M/Gujarat-riots-activist-Mukul-Sinha-dies-at-63.html|title=Gujarat riots activist Mukul Sinha dies at 63|last=Sen|first=Shreeja|date=12 May 2014|website=livemint.com|access-date=7 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/664314/mukul-sinha-self-effacing-modi-opponent-and-labour-organiser-who-disliked-being-called-a-leader|title=Mukul Sinha, self-effacing Modi opponent and labour organiser who disliked being called a leader|last=Janmohamed|first=Zahir|website=scroll.in|access-date=7 February 2018}}</ref> Pratik Sinha became interested in exposing fake news when he began working with his activist parents in India. He had followed the rise of fake news as early as 2013 but was moved to start the website after realizing the impact of social media in 2016, when four [[Dalit]] boys were flogged for skinning a dead cow in [[Una, Gujarat]]. He quit freelancing as a software engineer in 2016 and founded Alt News the next year.<ref name="newsminute"/>

In 2017, Pratik Sinha was invited to the [[Google|Google NewsLab]] Asia-Pacific Summit to discuss potential solutions to [[fake news]].<ref name="hindu" /> Since launching the website, he has received [[Death threat|threats to his life]], demanding that he stop producing content.<ref name="gangster">{{cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/news-website-owner-gets-threat-call-from-gangster-4562887/|title=News website owner gets threat call from 'gangster'|date=10 March 2017|work=[[The Indian Express]]|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="pujari">{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/mukul-sinhas-son-gets-threat-call-from-pujari/articleshow/57583310.cms|title=Mukul Sinha's son gets threat call from 'Pujari'|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref>

== Process ==
Alt News works by monitoring misinformation, primarily identifying that are sufficiently [[viral phenomenon|viral]]. They use CrowdTangle, a Facebook tool that publishers use to track how content spreads across the internet, for monitoring Facebook pages that have put out misinformation at some point in the past and are on either side of the ideological spectrum. They use [[TweetDeck]], a Twitter management tool to similarly monitor content on Twitter posted by people who have been known to tweet misinformation frequently. They also monitor multiple [[WhatsApp]] groups that they have been able to infiltrate and also receive content from users who alert them on social media and [[WhatsApp]].<ref name=caravan>{{cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/alt-news-pratik-sinha-fake-news-election|title=Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha on the fake-news ecosystem in India|work=[[The Caravan]]}}</ref>

== Popular work ==
Alt News identified the individuals running the [[Hindu]] right-wing website DainikBharat.org.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/inside-the-world-of-hindu-right-wing-fake-news-website-dainikbharat-org/story-aPdB03A4LjeIkFBFKmV0vI.html|title=Inside the world of Hindu right wing fake news website DainikBharat.org|work=[[Hindustan Times]]|date=13 June 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> Sinha demonstrated that a video purportedly of a Hindu man being lynched by Muslims in [[Bihar]] was in fact from [[Bangladesh]]. He also exposed Delhi based lawyer [[Prashant Patel]] who falsely compiled many fake news on his Twitter account.{{cn|date=March 2021}} He also showed that a video allegedly depicting a Marwari girl married to a Muslim man being burnt to death for not wearing a [[burqah]] was [[Guatemala]]n in origin.<ref name="hindu" /><ref name="thewire">{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/126611/fake-news-social-media-2/|title=What the Indian Media Can Learn From the Global War on Fake News|first=Anoo|last=Bhuyan|website=thewire.in|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40284480|title=India ministry mocked for 'appropriating' Spain border|work=[[BBC News]]|date=15 June 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="border">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170615/jsp/nation/story_156917.jsp|title=Border lights illuminate a Moroccan mockery|work=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]]|author=Imran Ahmed Siddiqui|date=15 June 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> According to the [[BBC]], a report by Alt News in June 2017 demonstrating that the [[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Indian Home Ministry]] had used a picture of the Spanish-Moroccan border to claim it had installed floodlights on India's borders led to the ministry facing online mockery.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="border" /> Sinha has compiled a list of more than 40 of what he describes as fake news sources, most of which he says support [[Right wing politics|right wing]] views.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/how-alt-news-is-trying-to-take-on-the-fake-news-ecosystem-in-india-3513879.html|title=How Alt News is trying to take on the fake news ecosystem in India|date=4 June 2017|work=[[Firstpost]]|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref>

The Alt News team has written a book titled "''India Misinformed: The True Story''" published by [[HarperCollins]] which was released in March 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/upcoming-book-to-lay-bare-propaganda-of-misinformation-and-hoaxes/articleshow/68123154.cms|title=Upcoming book to lay bare propaganda of misinformation and hoaxes|date=25 February 2019|website=The Times of India|language=en|others=IANS|access-date=2019-03-13}}</ref> The book has been "pre-endorsed" by [[Arundhati Roy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/upcoming-book-to-lay-bare-propaganda-of-misinformation-and-hoaxes/1483649|title=Upcoming book to lay bare propaganda of misinformation and hoaxes|date=22 February 2019|website=Outlook India|access-date=2019-03-13}}</ref>

== Controversy ==
On August 7, 2020, co-founder Mohammed Zubair responded to a hostile message from a Twitter user with a tweet containing a version of the user's [[profile picture]] depicting a man and the blurred face of a girl. In the tweet, Zubair asked the user, "Does your cute grand daughter know about your part time job of abusing people on social media? I suggest you to change your profile pic." The Forum for Indigenous Rights—North-East India filed a complaint regarding the tweet to the [[National Commission for Protection of Child Rights]], which escalated the complaint to the [[Delhi Police]] on August 8 and accused Zubair of "harassing and torturing" the girl. On September 7, the Delhi Police and the Raipur Police filed [[first information report]]s (FIRs) against Zubair and two other Twitter accounts who supported him.<ref name="Scroll Twitter">{{cite news |title=Two FIRs filed against Mohamed Zubair for online harassment of little girl |url=https://scroll.in/latest/972341/two-firs-filed-against-altnews-co-founder-mohammed-zubair-for-allegedly-doxing-minor-girl |access-date=16 September 2020 |website=[[Scroll.in]] |date=6 September 2020}}</ref><ref name="Indian Express Twitter">{{cite news |title=FIRs against co-founder of fact-checking website in Delhi, Raipur after NCPCR complaint |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/firs-against-co-founder-of-fact-checking-website-in-delhi-raipur-after-ncpcr-complaint-6584868/ |access-date=16 September 2020 |publisher=Express News Service |via=[[The Indian Express]] |date=6 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-17|title=The levels to which the fake news factory is stooping|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/the-levels-to-which-the-fake-news-factory-is-stooping-child-protection-law-misused-to-harass-fact-checker/cid/1791373|website=[[The Telegraph (Kolkata)|The Telegraph]]|first=Pheroze L.|last=Vincent|date=9 September 2020}}</ref> Zubair described the complaint as "absolutely frivolous" and indicated that he would prepare a legal response.<ref name="Scroll Twitter" /><ref name="Indian Express Twitter" /> Sinha considered the FIRs "a form of targeting" by the Indian government in response to Alt News's fact-checking of misinformation<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-17|title=Mohammed Zubair Is Being Targeted for the Work Alt News Does: Pratik Sinha|url=https://thewire.in/media/alt-news-pratik-sinha-zubair-fir|website=[[The Wire]]|first=Arfa Khanum|last=Sherwani|date=8 September 2020}}</ref> and noted that the user whom Zubair replied to had a history of attacking Zubair on Twitter.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-17|title=Singh who complained against Alt News has vulgar Twitter content|url=https://www.siasat.com/singh-who-complained-against-alt-news-has-vulgar-twitter-content-1968803/|date=8 September 2020|first=Sana|last=Sikander|website=[[The Siasat Daily]]}}</ref> Some Twitter users responded with the hashtag #IStandWithZubair in support of Zubair<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-17|title=#IStandWithZubair: Twitter Shows Solidarity With AltNews's Mohammed Zubair For Third Day In A Row|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/mohammed-zubair-alt-news-fir-solidarity_in_5f57174ac5b6578026d2565b|date=8 September 2020|website=[[HuffPost India]]}}</ref> and questioned whether he was being targeted for his [[Muslim]] identity.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-17|title='Based On Political Plans': Alt News Founder Pratik Sinha on FIRs|url=https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/alt-news-founder-pratik-sinha-on-firs-against-mohammad-zubair|date=9 September 2020|website=[[The Quint]]}}</ref> The [[Delhi High Court]], on September 9, instructed the Delhi Police to refrain from taking "coercive action" against Zubair while the investigation is ongoing.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-17|title=Delhi High Court directs police not to take coercive action against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/delhi-high-court-directs-police-not-to-take-coercive-action-against-alt-news-co-founder-mohammed-zubair-8800081.html|date=9 September 2020|publisher=[[Press Trust of India]]|via=[[Firstpost]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-17|title=Complaint against Alt News founder frivolous, says counsel; arrest barred till Dec 8|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/complaint-against-alt-news-founder-frivolous-says-counsel-arrest-barred-till-dec-8/story-S5BB6qUtO4C4vidDN5u48L.html|date=9 September 2020|website=[[Hindustan Times]]|first=Richa|last=Banka|editor1=Abhinav|editor2=Sahay}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Official website|https://www.altnews.in}}

[[Category:Fact-checking websites]]
[[Category:Indian news websites]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 2017]]

Alt News - Revision history

CleanupBot at 04:29, 13 August 2021