These ‘ISRO’ accounts on Instagram are fake, warns govt

‘isro.dos’ is the national space agency's official handle on Instagram, the government noted.

A day after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scripted history by making India only the fourth country to achieve soft-landing on the Moon, the government on Thursday warned that there were handles on Instagram impersonating the celebrated national space agency.

The fake ISRO handles on Instagram (twitter.com/PIB/FactCheck)

The government also provided the profile name of ISRO's official Instagram handle.

“Several #FAKE Instagram accounts are claiming to be the official account of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The official account of @isro is ‘isro.dos.’ For authentic info, visit ISRO's official website: isro.gov.in,” the PIB's fact-checking unit noted in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

The PIB (Press Information Bureau) is a nodal agency of the Government of India, and comes under the latter's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). It disseminates information to media (electronic, print, web) on the government's policies, programmes, initiatives, and more.

ISRO, meanwhile, is also present on Threads, Meta Platforms' (earlier Facebook, Inc.) recently-launched social network.

Chandrayaan-3

The country's third lunar exploration mission was launched on July 14, and touched down on the Moon at 6:04pm on August 23, as scheduled, sparking celebrations across the nation. Before this, only the United States, Russia, and China, had soft-landed on the Earth's only natural satellite.

Also, Chandrayaan-3's lander module arrived at the Moon's South Pole, the mission's intended destination. This makes India the only nation to reach the Moon's South Pole.