Fact Check: Amitabh Bachchan is in ICU due to liver failure? No, viral post is a clickbait
A social media post claiming that Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has been hospitalised is going viral.
By K Sherly Sharon
Claim:The viral post shares an update on Amitabh Bachchanās health, claiming that the actor has been hospitalised due to liver problems.
Fact:The claim is false. The post is using fake sensational content to mislead viewers and drive engagement to a fake news website.
Hyderabad: A post claiming that Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has been admitted to the ICU due to liver damage is going viral on social media.
A Facebook post shared a collage made of Jaya, Abhishek, Amitabh and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan along with a link. The caption reads, āSad News for Bachchan Family as Amitabh Bachchan admitted to ICU after 75% Liver damag*d in criticalā (Archive)
The post has garnered over 7.1 million views and 28,000 reactions, with more than 3,600 comments, most of them offering prayers and well wishes.
The link in the viral post led us to a page titled, āTitle: Tragic News: Amitabh Bachchan Admitted to ICU with Severe Liver Damage,ā published on June 3. (Archive)
The webpage stated that the Bollywood actor is suffering from 75 per cent liver damage. It claims that social media is flooded with messages of support as his family requested privacy during this difficult time.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The post is using fake sensational content to mislead viewers and drive engagement to the linked website.
Using keyword searches, we did not find any news reports or social media posts stating that Amitabh Bachchan has been hospitalised due to liver damage.
We did not find any messages of support on social media as mentioned in the webpage linked in the viral post. There are no press statements or social media posts from the Bachchan family requesting for privacy or stating that Amitabh Bachchan has been hospitalised.
On the official X handle of Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan's post on his latest movie Housefull 5 was reported with the caption, āT 5402 .. hahaha .. what a fun fun fun ... !!!ā. This post was made on June 5.
We also found that the various images in the viral post are from different occasions in the past. The image of Aishwarya Rai dates back to March 2017 when she offered prayers at her father, Krishnaraj Raiās funeral.
One of the images of Abhishek Bachchan dates back to February 2017 when he attended a neighbourās funeral.
An image of Jaya Bachchan from May 2022, when she attended Shivkumar Sharmaās funeral, is also used in the viral post.
The image of Amitabh Bachchan on a hospital bed is actually an edited version of another image. This image was uploaded to Pinterest. However, we could not independently verify the details of this image.
From this, we understand that the image collage on the viral post was created to grab attention using shock value. These are not recent images of the Bachchan family.
The domain of the webpage reads āindia.celebtoday24hā while the logo says āUSA Newsā. A YouTube video with the same title was embedded in the webpage. The video was published on June 3. This video also shares the same claims as the webpage. It has over 42,000 views.
In the website we found many published articles with click-bait and shocking titles such as, āSHOCKING NEWS: Paresh Rawal Arrested and Dragged by Mumbai Police After Akshay Kumar Charges Him with Illegal Compensation/hiā and āTitle: Aamir Khanās Grand Wedding: Celebrating His Third Marriage to Gauri Spratt with Family and Friendsā. (Archive) (Archive)
These articles are also written in an attention-grabbing manner, using clickbait titles to lure readers.
This makes it clear that the website is trying to grab attention and drive engagement using sensational fake news.
NewsMeter concludes that the viral claims are false. The post is using fake sensational content to mislead viewers and drive engagement to the linked website.
