FAKE BSF ACCOUNT DELETED AS CENTRE’S FACT CHECK UNIT UPS ANTE

A fake Twitter account impersonating the Twitter handle of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) was deleted on Wednesday as the Centre activated its fact-check unit and the border guarding force delivered a strict note to Twitter.

The fake Twitter handle named @BsfIndia0 was impersonating as the official Twitter account of the BSF. The account looked similar to BSF’s official Twitter handle, @BSF_India.

The Twitter handle was deleted within 24 hours after the fact check unit under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) declared it a fake account, and the BSF wrote to Twitter to take immediate action against the fake account and bring it down as it was attracting followers who might have thought it was a real account of the paramilitary force that works under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

“We wrote to Twitter on Tuesday to take action against the fake account impersonating the genuine Twitter handle of the BSF. It was asked to bring down the handle. The fake Twitter handle was deleted shortly after we wrote to Twitter,” a senior BSF official said.

By the time the fact-check unit of the I&B Ministry declared @BsfIndia0 as a fake Twitter handle, it had attracted 30 followers and had followed 60 individuals. The fact-check unit made the announcement through the Twitter handle of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to avoid any misunderstanding as the account went viral on the micro-blogging site and started attracting followers.

“A fake Twitter handle named @BsfIndia0 is impersonating as the official Twitter account of the Border Security Force. This account is fake. The official Twitter account of BSF is @BSF_India, “ the PIB Fact Check handle tweeted.

The matter considered significance as people might be misinformed with the fake account as BSF is a major Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) having responsibility to guard India’s borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh.