Looking through 801 false and misleading claims, BOOM found that Muslims were the most frequently targetted group, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the most frequently targetted individual by fake news, in 2021.
Despite a slowdown from last year, 'Coronavirus' still remained the most dominant topic of the year, followed by topics like farmers' protest, West Bengal, Afghanistan and Uttar Pradesh.
Visuals - images and videos - were the most preferred medium of sharing false/misleading claims last year. Political claims - the most dominant category of false claims last year - were predominantly shared with images, while communal claims were most frequently shared with videos.
Following the 'infodemic' of 2020, BOOM has been looking closely at misinformation trends through analyses of its fact-checks. Our past studies, along with our monthly reports, have highlighted and revealed relevant trends in the mis/disinformation cycle. We decided to continue this practice, and apply it to all the fact-checks done by us in 2021.
Like its predecessor, 2021 continued to be a gruelling year for many, including fact checkers. Events like the farmers' protests, second wave of coronavirus, Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, and state elections have kept the mis/disinformation cycle in India in full throttle.
We did 801 fact checks throughout the year.
Out of them, 708 were done on new claims, while 93 of them were done on old claims being revived.
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