Fact Check: No, Drinking Cold Drinks Are Not Mixed With Ebola Virus-Infected Blood

Social media, a powerful tool to communicate with people have now become one of the most used platforms to peddle news, both fake and real. From politics to medicine, we have encountered several news pieces only to find later that they are false.

Recently, the Hyderabad Police clarified on a piece of fake news which is being circulated on WhatsApp. The message says that Hyderabad Police has announced that worker working in cold drink factory has mixed blood infected with Ebola virus.

Claims

A WhatsApp forward purportedly written by the Hyderabad Police warns people against consuming any soft-drink. The reason used from people to drink the soft drink was that an employee working in one of the soft drink manufacturing companies had added his blood contaminated by the Ebola virus to the product. The message urges people throughout India not to consume soft drinks such as Maaza, Fanta, 7Up, Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, etc. The forward also mentions that the news have been covered by one of the reputed news channel – NDTV. The message concludes by asking people to share the message with all the friends and family member.

To further support the claims, the message is flanked with multiple pictures of dead bodies, two people inspecting bottles, and dozens of Coca- Cola bottles lying around.

Reality

The Hyderabad Police took to Twitter and Facebook to say that they have issued no such advisory. The post, carrying a screenshot of the WhatsApp forward said, “Fake news spreading on social media about cool drinks and warning from Hyderabad city police is a fake one and Hyderabad city police never released any message regarding this.”

Fake news spreading on social media about cool drinks and a warning from Hyderabad city police is fake one and Hyderabad city police never released any message regarding this. pic.twitter.com/cCy32Vh7fN

— Hyderabad City Police (@hydcitypolice) July 13, 2019

When The Logical Indian reverse searched the images of the Coca-Cola bottles lying and two people inspecting two bottles, we found the photos were used in an article dated September 21, 2015, on the website of Morung.

The other image of people lying in the hospital was found on November 3, 2014. The image was of relatives gathered around the bodies in a hospital due to a suicide bomb attack that happened near the Wagah border on November 2. The photograph belonged to Agence France-Presse.

The other image of dead bodies lying was originally used by Rekha Verma- a politician from Uttar Pradesh. In a Facebook post on April 29, 2018, expressing her grief for the people killed due to a road accident on the national highway in Lakhimpur Kheri area.

Creating or sharing fake news is never justified. We have a responsibility to verify everything that we post on the internet. To ensure that our national debate is healthy and well-informed, each and every one of us has a responsibility of treating what we read with a pinch of salt, a spoonful of doubt, and a flood of research.

To all the political parties and leaders, ruling or opposition, please don’t be a part of the problem. Be part of the solution. For a better future, for a better nation.

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