PTI Fact Check: A purported screenshot of a news report, that featured a photo of a woman with two men was shared on social media. The headline in the screenshot claimed that the woman was a South Korean YouTuber, who was sexually assaulted by the two men seen in it, who had earlier saved her from being harassed on the streets in Mumbai. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that a fake screenshot was attributed to Times of India and was shared on social media with a false claim. The Times of India never published such a report.
It is pertinent to note that a South Korean YouTuber was allegedly harassed in Mumbai while she was live streaming earlier in December. Two men identified as Aditya and Atharva had back then rescued her from the situation. However, a photo of the YouTuber having lunch with the two men was shared on social media with a false claim.
Claim:
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on December 19 a post containing screenshot of a purported news report by Times of India, that featured a photo of two men with a woman. The user claimed that the woman in the photo – a South Korean YouTuber – was sexually assaulted by the two men, who had earlier saved her from being harassed on the streets of Mumbai.
Here is the link and archive link to the post and below is a screenshot of the same:
Investigation:
The Desk carried out a customised keyword search on Google but could not find any such news report published by the Times of India.
However, the search results led us to a Times Now report published on December 2, 2022. The headline read: “[WATCH] South Korean YouTuber, harassed in Mumbai, meets two ‘Indian heroes’ who rescued her; shares video.”
Here’s the link to the news report, and below is the screenshot of the same.
Going through the investigation, the Desk compared the viral article with the Times Now report and found multiple indications of the viral report to be digitally altered.
While the headline of the Times Now article reads, “[WATCH] South Korean YouTuber, harassed in Mumbai, meets two ‘Indian heroes’ who rescued her; shares video.” In the viral report, the same has been altered to, “WATCH: South Korean YouTuber, harassed in Mumbai, meets two ‘Indian heroes’ who rescue her only to end up getting raped by them.” Clearly, the part “only to end up getting raped by them” was falsely included in the headline.
Further, a similar change has also been made to the lead. The phrase “bid in Mumbai” was replaced with “ended up getting brutally raped by the two who are yet to be apprehended by the Mumbai police.”
Below is the screenshot of the comparison indicated.
Further, taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted another customised keyword search on Google and came across a social media post by South Korean YouTuber herself, who, as a gesture of gratitude, invited Aditya and Atharva for lunch.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), YouTuber Hyojeong Park thanked the two Indian men who helped her to post the video and saved her on the street.
Below is the link and screenshot of the social media post by Park.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the screenshot shared on social media in the name of Times of India was fake.
Conclusion: A screenshot of a purported article by Times of India claimed that a South Korean YouTuber was sexually assaulted by two men, who earlier saved her from harassment in Mumbai. In its investigation, the Desk found that no such article was published by Times of India. A digitally altered screenshot was shared on social media with a false claim.
(This fact-check article was originally published by PTI Fact Check and has been republished by Lighthouse Journalism as a part of Shakti Collective.)
