A video purporting to depict Indian men harassing a foreign tourist has gone viral, including a group of young men attempting to take photographs and selfies with a female foreign tourist.
Verified accounts on twitter, including @stillgray tweeted “Why are they doing this.” and shared the video in a twitter post on March 24, 2024. The tweet has received an about 797.8k views on X, contributing to the spread of the information.
Why are they doing this. pic.twitter.com/7Napjou9RM
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 24, 2024
Several other accounts, including @CriminalTube, @youridefou, @ClownWorld_, @lporiginalg, @barrystantonGBP made the same claim that the female foreign tourist was harassed by a group of men from India by trying to take selfies with her. The archive can be read from above.
What is the Actual Truth About this Incident? : Fact
This video is created, that much is true. In 2018, the woman clarified on Facebook that the video had been propagated with the incorrect information. It is unrelated to harassment.
We visited the quint, which published an article on this incident on August 10, 2018 with the headline “Woman Says Video of Indian Men “Hassling” Her is Choreographed”. A video of a white female tourist in Mumbai being harassed by multiple guys for pictures went popular on Facebook and Youtube. This sparked a debate about a number of issues, including women’s safety. In a Facebook post, the woman in the video, Celia Voivodich, stated that the footage was shot a year prior in a completely different environment. She continues by saying that it has been exaggerated and has unexpectedly gained traction on social media. She added “This video was in fact choreographed. (NOT STAGED – people please stop making things up that was not said) Yes, I noticed I was getting a lot of attention in this particular spot in Mumbai, but the men who approached me did naturally, they’re not actors. However, I loitered in the middle of the square waiting for them to approach whilst my local Indian male friend filmed.” in the Facebook post.
The post was made on Facebook on August 6, 2018 where she also added “I had this type of situation happen to me for about 45 minutes prior to taking this video. Whilst it was happening, my Indian friend and i alike were polite to the people approaching (Not only men, but women and children as well), and i left because i felt overwhelmed. I went BACK maybe an hour later because i wanted to film the situation for content sake. I simply put myself back into that situation. It was not in any way staged. It was for the sake of humour, for blogging content, for interest sake. I’m sorry if anyone thinks it’s stupid, or i disrespected myself. I can see how people could form this opinion, however I did not feel disrespected at all. If you can see the light-hearted humour in this video, then thank you, we are on the same page!”
D-Intent’s Fact-Checking Results:
1769
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) March 24, 2024
ANALYSIS: Misleading
FACT: A video showing a group of young men trying to take selfies with a woman tourist has been shared as a real Incident and projected as an Indian harassing a foreign tourist. The fact is that this video is choreographed. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/MeRvgR0QR8
Intent:
Influencers are circulating out-of-context old video to set their propaganda against Indian to hurt India’s global image. A video showing a group of young men trying to take selfies with a woman tourist has been shared as a real Incident and projected as an Indian harassing a foreign tourist. This video is, in fact, choreographed. In 2018, the woman corrected the mistaken message that had been uploaded with the video on Facebook. Harassment is unrelated to it.
Conclusion:
Claim : Indians are allegedly harassing a foreign tourist in a video that shows a group of young men attempting to take selfies with a female tourist. The video has been posted as true incident.
Fact : The fact is that this video is choreographed. The woman posted a Facebook post in 2018 clarifying that the video had been shared with the wrong message. It has nothing to do with harassment.
Also Read : The Viral Image Of Food Basket in Train’s Toilet is Not From Congress Tenure: Fact-Check
