Fake Twitter, FB accounts of Sonia, PM flood cyber space | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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Fake Twitter, FB accounts of Sonia, PM flood cyber space

PTI | By, New Delhi
Feb 20, 2011 02:15 PM IST

A posting on one of Sonia Gandhi's Twitter accounts says, "After careful evaluation of outcome, Congress high council has agreed for JPC. We have nothing to hide." But hold your breath, this is fake.

"JPC might include ISRO and Adarsh scams. Congress has nothing to hide because what's hidden will never be found."

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HT Image

This is what a tweet by "Sonia Gandhi" says. But hold your breath, this is fake.

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There are several such postings one can find from sham accounts of politicians and top celebrities on popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

And it seems these sites have emerged as a nuisance for some top leaders, especially the Congress president and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

There are a number of accounts in both Twitter and Facebook in the name of Sonia and the prime minister whose tweets -- from their fake accounts -- are based on alleged corruptions in 2G Spectrum allocation, S-band deal, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Society.

A posting on one of Sonia's fake Twitter accounts says, "After careful evaluation of outcome, Congress high council has agreed for JPC. We have nothing to hide."

"JPC might include ISRO and Adarsh scams. Congress has nothing to hide because what's hidden will never be found," says another tweet.

Another tweet from her says, "Most countries make people poor through taxes. We make people like (Suresh) Kalmadi rich. That's what makes us so wonderful."

Similarly, a tweet from an account named after Prime Minister Singh says, "Madam ji, left can never be right ji. Purulia can never be rae barreily ji."

Rahul Gandhi is no exception. The Congress general secretary seems to have several Twitter accounts, which have his picture and tweets about his past programmes and visits.

One of the accounts has a link to a blog named 'Action For Tribal Movement Association' that highlights issues related to tribal population in India.

Most surprisingly, there is also twitter accounts in the name of Mahatma Gandhi and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her father Jawaharlal Nehru.

The case with Facebook, which claims to have more than 500 million users around the world, is even worse.

The site has a dozen of accounts in the name of Sonia, Rahul, Prime Minister Singh and other top politicians and celebrities.

Most of Rahul's accounts contain his photograph and bio-data, including his address, telephone number, profession and philosophy. And his followers run into of thousands.

In one such account, which looks very real, Rahul says "There is a work that my father had started, a dream he had dreamt. I come to you today saying...allow me to turn that dream into reality."

But Congress sources said Rahul is not active in either Facebook or Twitter and the party has ordered a probe to crackdown the impostors who are using accounts on his name.

Although Twitter has a system to authenticate real accounts of celebrities, all accounts belonging to them are yet to be authenticated, which makes it difficult to guess which account is real and which isn't.

However, Facebook, which allows one to post messages, pictures, videos and almost anything under the sun, doesn't have a technology that can authenticate real accounts of celebrities.

Unveiling 'Elections 2024: The Big Picture', a fresh segment in HT's talk show 'The Interview with Kumkum Chadha', where leaders across the political spectrum discuss the upcoming general elections. Watch now!
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