Fact Check: No free mobile recharge, viral message is hoax
A message claiming that the Yogi Adityanath government has announced free recharge for Jio, Airtel, and Vi users is viral on social media.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 11 April 2022 5:52 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A message claiming that the Yogi Adityanath government has announced free recharge for Jio, Airtel, and Vi users is viral on social media.
The message further claims that the Yogi government has announced the benefits after winning the recent Uttar Pradesh State Assembly Elections.
The viral message written in Hindi can be translated as, "In the joy of becoming the Yogi government again in Uttar Pradesh, 3 months recharge is being given to all Indian users* for free. If you have Jio, Airtel, or Vi SIM then you can take advantage of this offer. Note:- Click on the link given below to get your free recharge. https://youtu.be/dg81wo7DT9o PLEASE NOTE: THIS OFFER IS LIMITED ONLY *15 APRIL 2022*! Hurry up"
Fact Check
The claim is a hoax.
NewsMeter began its investigation by closely having a look at the link that was provided in the viral message. it was a YouTube link. On clicking the link we found that the video was removed from YouTube for violating their social media policy on spam, deceptive practices, and scams.
Apart from this, we did not find any reports or information, published by any mainstream media or any government sources of such an announcement.
On further investigation, we found a tweet by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check on April 05, 2022. They had shared a similar message and stated it to be a hoax message.
"#FraudAlert A #WhatsApp message is claiming that the Indian government is providing free internet to 100 million users for 3 months. #PIBFactCheck: This claim is #Fake. No such announcement has been made by the Government of India."
Apart from this, NewsMeter had also debunked many such viral messages that were doing rounds on social media.
Hence, it is evident that the claim is a hoax, as no such announcement has been made by the Yogi or Uttar Pradesh government.
