#FactCheck- Old Gulf War Video Misleadingly Linked to Alleged Capture of U.S. Pilot in Iran

Introduction

February marks the beginning of Valentine’s Week, the time when we transcend from the season of smog to the season of love. This is a time when young people are more active on social media and dating apps with the hope of finding a partner to celebrate the occasion. Dating Apps, in order to capitalise on this occasion, launch special offers and campaigns to attract new users and string on the current users with the aspiration of finding their ideal partner. However, with the growing popularity of online dating, the tactics of cybercriminals have also penetrated this sphere. Scammers are now becoming increasingly sophisticated in manipulating individuals on digital platforms, often engaging in scams, identity theft, and financial fraud under the guise of romance. As love fills the air, netizens must stay vigilant and cautious while searching for a connection online and not fall into a scammer’s trap. 

Here Are Some CyberPeace Tips To Avoid Romance Scams

• Recognize Red Flags of Romance Scams:- Online dating has made it easier to connect with people, but it has also become a tool for scammers to exploit the emotions of netizens for financial gain. They create fake profiles, build trust quickly, and then manipulate victims into sending money. Understanding their tactics can help you stay safe.
• Warning Signs of a Romance Scam:- If someone expresses strong feelings too soon, it’s a red flag. Scammers often claim to have fallen in love within days or weeks, despite never meeting in person. They use emotional pressure to create a false sense of connection.  Their messages might seem off. Scammers often copy-paste scripted responses, making conversations feel unnatural. Poor grammar, inconsistencies in their stories, or vague answers are warning signs. Asking for money is the biggest red flag. They might have an emergency, a visa issue, or an investment opportunity they want you to help with. No legitimate relationship starts with financial requests.
• Manipulative Tactics Used by Scammers:- Scammers use love bombing to gain trust. They flood you with compliments, calling you their soulmate or destiny. This is meant to make you emotionally attached. They often share fake sob stories. It could be anything ranging from losing a loved one, facing a medical emergency, or even being stuck in a foreign country. These are designed to make you feel sorry for them and more willing to help. Some of these scammers might even pretend to be wealthy, being investors or successful business owners, showing off their fabricated luxury lifestyle in order to appear credible. Eventually, they’ll try to lure you into a fake investment. They create a sense of urgency. Whether it’s sending money, investing, or sharing personal details, scammers will push you to act fast. This prevents you from thinking critically or verifying your claims.
• Financial Frauds Linked to Romance Scams:- Romance scams have often led to financial fraud. Victims may be tricked into sending money directly or get roped into elaborate schemes. One common scam is the disappearing date, where someone insists on dining at an expensive restaurant, only to vanish before the bill arrives. Crypto scams are another major concern. Scammers convince victims to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms, promising huge returns. Once the money is sent, the scammer disappears, leaving the victim with nothing. 
• AI & Deepfake Risks in Online Dating:- Advancements in AI have made scams even more convincing. Scammers use AI-generated photos to create flawless, yet fake, profile pictures. These images often lack natural imperfections, making them hard to spot. Deepfake technology is also being used for video calls. Some scammers use pre-recorded AI-generated videos to fake live interactions. If a person’s expressions don’t match their words or their screen glitches oddly, it could be a deepfake.
• How to Stay Safe:-
  • Always verify the identities of those who contact you on these sites. A simple reverse image search can reveal if someone’s profile picture is stolen.
  • Avoid clicking suspicious links or downloading unknown apps sent by strangers. These can be used to steal your personal information.
  • Trust your instincts. If something feels off, it probably is. Stay alert and protect yourself from online romance scams.

Best Online Safety Practices

• Prioritize Social Media Privacy:- Review and update your privacy settings regularly. Think before you share and be mindful of who can see your posts/stories. Avoid oversharing personal details.
• Report Suspicious Activities:- Even if a scam attempt doesn’t succeed, report it. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) 'Report Suspect' feature allow users to flag potential threats, helping prevent cybercrimes.
• Think Before You Click or Download:- Avoid clicking on unknown links or downloading attachments from unverified sources. These can be traps leading to phishing scams or malware attacks.
• Protect Your Personal Information:- Be cautious with whom and how you share your sensitive details online. Cybercriminals exploit even the smallest data points to orchestrate fraud.

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Executive Summary:

A video purporting to be from Lal Chowk in Srinagar, which features Lord Ram's hologram on a clock tower, has gone popular on the internet. The footage is from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, not Jammu and Kashmir, the CyberPeace Research Team discovered.

Claims:

A Viral 48-second clip is getting shared over the Internet mostly in X and Facebook, The Video shows a car passing by the clock tower with the picture of Lord Ram. A screen showcasing songs about Lord Ram is shown when the car goes forward and to the side of the road.

The Claim is that the Video is from Kashmir, Srinagar

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Fact Check:

The CyberPeace Research team found that the Information is false. Firstly we did some keyword search relating to the Caption and found that the Clock Tower in Srinagar is not similar to the Video. 

We found an article by NDTV mentioning Srinagar Lal Chowk’s Clock Tower, It's the only Clock Tower in the Middle of Road. We are somewhat confirmed that the Video is not From Srinagar. We then ran a reverse image search of the Video by breaking down into frames.  

We found another Video that visualizes a similar structure tower in Dehradun.

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Taking a cue from this we then Searched for the Tower in Dehradun and tried to see if it matches with the Video, and yes it’s confirmed that the Tower is a Clock Tower in Paltan Bazar, Dehradun and the Video is actually From Dehradun but not from Srinagar.

Conclusion:

After a thorough Fact Check Investigation of the Video and the originality of the Video, we found that the Visualisation of Lord Ram in the Clock Tower is not from Srinagar but from Dehradun. Internet users who claim the Visual of Lord Ram from Srinagar is totally Baseless and Misinformation.

• Claim: The Hologram of Lord Ram on the Clock Tower of Lal Chowk, Srinagar
• Claimed on: Facebook, X
• Fact Check: Fake

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The Rise of Tech Use Amongst Children

Technology today has become an invaluable resource for children, as a means to research issues, be informed about events, gather data, and share views and experiences with others. Technology is no longer limited to certain age groups or professions: children today are using it for learning & entertainment, engaging with their friends, online games and much more. With increased digital access, children are also exposed to online mis/disinformation and other forms of cyber crimes, far more than their parents, caregivers, and educators were in their childhood or are, even in the present. Children are particularly vulnerable to mis/disinformation due to their still-evolving maturity and cognitive capacities. The innocence of the youth is a major cause for concern when it comes to digital access because children simply do not possess the discernment and caution required to be able to navigate the Internet safely. They are active users of online resources and their presence on social media is an important factor of social, political and civic engagement but young people and children often lack the cognitive and emotional capacity needed to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information. As a result, they can be targets of mis/disinformation. ‘A UNICEF survey in 10 countries’[1] reveals that up to three-quarters of children reported feeling unable to judge the veracity of the information they encounter online.

Social media has become a crucial part of children's lives, with them spending a significant time on digital platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and more. All these platforms act as source of news, educational content, entertainment, peer communication and more. These platforms host a variety of different kinds of content across a diverse range of subject matters, and each platform’s content and privacy policies are different. Despite age restrictions under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and other applicable laws, it is easy for children to falsify their birth date or use their parent's accounts to access content which might not be age-appropriate. 

The Impact of Misinformation on Children

In virtual settings, inaccurate information can come in the form of text, images, or videos shared through traditional and social media channels. In this age, online misinformation is a significant cause for concern, especially with children, because it  can cause anxiety, damage self-esteem, shape beliefs, and skewing their worldview/viewpoints. It can distort children's understanding of reality, hinder their critical thinking skills, and cause confusion and cognitive dissonance. The growing infodemic can even cause an overdose of information. Misinformation can also influence children's social interactions, leading to misunderstandings, conflicts, and mistrust among peers. Children from low literacy backgrounds are more susceptible to fabricated content. Mis/disinformation can exacerbate social divisions amongst peers and lead to unwanted behavioural patterns. Sometimes even children themselves can unwittingly spread/share misinformation. Therefore, it is important to educate & empower children to build cognitive defenses against online misinformation risks, promote media literacy skills, and equip them with the necessary tools to critically evaluate online information.

CyberPeace Policy Wing Recommendations

1. Role of Parents & Educators to Build Cognitive Defenses

One way parents shape their children's values, beliefs and actions is through modelling. Children observe how their parents use technology, handle challenging situations, and make decisions. For example, parents who demonstrate honesty, encourage healthy use of social media and show kindness and empathy are more likely to raise children who hold these qualities in high regard. Hence parents/educators play an important role in shaping the minds of their young charges and their behaviours, whether in offline or online settings. It is important for parents/educators to realise that they must pay close attention to how online content consumption is impacting the cognitive skills of their child. Parents/educators should educate children about authentic sources of information. This involves instructing children on the importance of using reliable, credible sources to utilise while researching on any topic of study or otherwise, and using verification mechanisms to test suspected information., This may sound like a challenging ideal to meet, but the earlier we teach children about Prebunking and Debunking strategies and the ability to differentiate between fact and misleading information, the sooner we can help them build cognitive defenses so that they may use the Internet safely. Hence it becomes paramount important for parents/educators to require children to question the validity of information, verify sources, and critically analyze content. Developing these skills is essential for navigating the digital world effectively and making informed decisions.

2. The Role of Tech & Social Media Companies to Fortify their Steps in Countering Misinformation

Is worth noting that all major tech/social media companies have privacy policies in place to discourage any spread of harmful content or misinformation. Social media platforms have already initiated efforts to counter misinformation by introducing new features such as adding context to content, labelling content, AI watermarks and collaboration with civil society organisations to counter the widespread online misinformation. In light of this, social media platforms must prioritise both the designing and the practical implementation aspects of policy development and deployment to counter misinformation strictly. These strategies can be further improved upon  through government support and regulatory controls. It is recommended that social media platforms must further increase their efforts to counter increasing spread of online mis/disinformation and apply advanced techniques to counter misinformation including filtering, automated removal, detection and prevention, watermarking, increasing reporting mechanisms, providing context to suspected content, and promoting authenticated/reliable sources of information.

Social media platforms should consider developing children-specific help centres that host educational content in attractive, easy-to-understand formats so that children can learn about misinformation risks and tactics, how to spot red flags and how to increase their information literacy and protect themselves and their peers. Age-appropriate, attractive and simple content can go a long way towards fortifying young minds and making them aware and alert without creating fear. 

3. Laws and Regulations

It is important that the government and the social media platforms work in sync to counteract misinformation. The government must consult with the concerned platforms and enact rules and regulations which strengthen the platform’s age verification mechanisms at the sign up/ account creation stage whilst also respecting user privacy. Content moderation, removal of harmful content, and strengthening reporting mechanisms all are important factors which must be prioritised at both the regulatory level and the platform operational level. Additionally, in order to promote healthy and responsible use of technology by children, the government should collaborate with other institutions to design information literacy programs at the school level. The government must make it a key priority to work with civil society organisations and expert groups that run programs to fight misinformation and co-create  a safe cyberspace for everyone, including children. 

4. Expert Organisations and Civil Societies

Cybersecurity experts and civil society organisations possess the unique blend of large scale impact potential and technical expertise. We have the ability to educate and empower huge numbers, along with the skills and policy acumen needed to be able to not just make people aware of the problem but also teach them how to solve it for themselves. True, sustainable solutions to any social concern only come about when capacity-building and empowerment are at the heart of the initiative. Programs that prioritise resilience, teach Prebunking and Debunking and are able to understand the unique concerns, needs and abilities of children and design solutions accordingly are the best suited to implement the administration’s mission to create a safe digital society. 

Final Words 

Online misinformation significantly impacts child development and can hinder their cognitive abilities, color their viewpoints, and cause confusion and mistrust. It is important that children are taught not just how to use technology but how to use it responsibly and positively. This education can begin at a very young age and parents, guardians and educators can connect with CyberPeace and other similar initiatives on how to define age-appropriate learning milestones. Together, we can not only empower children to be safe today, but also help them develop into netizens who make the world even safer for others tomorrow. 

References:

• [1] Digital misinformation / disinformation and children
• [2] Children's Privacy | Federal Trade Commission

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