Video falsely claims Muslims set Hindu homes on fire
A video showing two women crying and screaming as a house-like structure burns has recently spread on social media platform X. The video claims that Muslims are setting Hindu homes on fire. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that to be false.
The video was posted on August 17 from a verified X account named “Kreately.in”. The caption reads “Hindu houses burned by Islamists in Bangladesh. Why is India silent? ”
In the 15-second video, the women can be heard saying, “Look what the people of the area are doing to us. It’s 12 at night now, and they are burning down our house. They have set it on fire, what kind of conspiracy is this?”
Till writing this report, the post had received more than 38,000 views and had been reposted more than 3,000 times.
The video was also posted from several X accounts (1, 2) with the same claim.
During the investigation, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using several keyframes. The search found similarities between the circulated video and a video posted on July 4 from a Facebook account named Asma Akter. The post description reads, “See how great of an enemy lives around us.”
A review of the account found that the woman named Asma Akter works as a content creator. She has more than 2.2 million followers on Facebook. From July 4 to 6, she posted several videos on social media showing the fire incident and its aftermath.
Further verification found that three women regularly post videos from the account. They mainly create content about life in the hills. Information from the account also shows that Asma Akter is a resident of Khagrachhari. Her Facebook profile bio reads, “A hill girl showing the everyday and new lifestyle of hill people🛖🌱.”
For further verification, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using screenshots from several videos on the profile. This led to an Instagram account named Najma Akter and a TikTok account named Asma Akter. Videos showing the fire and several scenes from after the incident were also posted there on July 4. In several videos, she claimed that an arson incident had taken place but provided no further details. The videos show a bamboo-made structure, which was claimed to have been burned by miscreants.
According to information obtained from the Instagram account, three women named Asma, Najma and Tanjina regularly create the content together.
An attempt was made to contact the email address listed on the profile to learn the cause of the fire, but no response was received. Therefore, the actual cause of the fire could not be determined.
