Fact Check: Ajit Doval does not have any Twitter account; beware of impostor accounts
Many fake Twitter pages of prominent personalities, including actors and politicians, have been misleading the public.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 11 Nov 2021 7:37 PM IST
Hyderabad: Many fake Twitter pages of prominent personalities, including actors and politicians, have been misleading the public. The NewsMeter fact-check team recently found many Twitter accounts in the name of Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor, claiming to be of his official accounts.
Click here, here, here, and here to view the Twitter accounts in the name of Ajit Doval.
They have been very active and are regularly tweeting and retweeting misleading other users.
Fact Check
The claim is false.
NewsMeter noticed that none of these accounts were verified and that they had been created recently. Most of them were created either in 2020 or 2021.
We found a tweet by the verified and official account of Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, confirming that Ajit Doval does not have any Twitter account.
"Important Alert! Shri Ajit Kumar Doval K.C., National Security Advisor has no official account on Twitter. This is to advise caution against impostors or fake accounts under his name," Mr. Bagchi tweeted on 8 November 2021.
Many media outlets, including Business Standard, ANI News, Money Control, Naidunia, News9Live, and Zee5, had reported that Mr. Doval has no official account on Twitter.
On 10 November, PIB fact-check had tweeted, "NSA Ajit Doval has no official account on Twitter. Beware of imposter or fake accounts functioning under his name."
It is to be noted that on 30 May 2014, Mr. Doval was appointed India's fifth National Security Advisor and in June the same year, he facilitated the return of 46 Indian nurses who were trapped in a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq. However, none of the Twitter accounts had any details of his appointment.
It is therefore evident that the Twitter accounts claiming to be the official account of NSA Ajit Doval are fake. Mr. Doval has no account on twitter and this has been confirmed by the ministry of external affairs.
