Fact Check: Staged Awareness Video Given False Communal Spin

The video purports to show a ‘Hindu man caught adulterating watermelons with artificial chemicals during Ramadan’.

A screenshot of the viral post.

Source : Facebook/Factly

A video going viral on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show a Hindu man caught adulterating watermelons with artificial chemicals. The post urges people to “save Muslims’ lives during Ramadan” and warns that a mistake while buying Iftaari could be risky. Let’s verify the claim made in the post through this article.

The archived post can be found here.

Claim: Video shows a Hindu man caught adulterating watermelons with artificial chemicals during Ramadan. Fact: The viral video does not show a real incident and has no communal angle. It is a scripted video shared on a Facebook page called Social Message on 29 April 2024, which includes a disclaimer stating that the video is entirely fictional, with all events scripted for awareness. The man seen in the viral video has also appeared in other scripted videos on the same page. The page’s introduction mentions that the videos are scripted and created purely for awareness and entertainment. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

A reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led us to a similar video (archived) posted on the Facebook page ‘Social Message’ on 29 April 2024. At 0:28, a disclaimer states that the video is entirely fictional, with scripted events created for awareness.

Upon reviewing the ‘Social Message’ Facebook page, we found that its intro section states that some videos are scripted and created purely for awareness and entertainment. We also noticed similarly scripted videos on the page. The person seen in the viral video appears in other videos (here and here) published on the same page.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has posted detailed guidelines for detecting adulteration of food materials at home. To detect if watermelon is adulterated with Erythrosine, FSSAI suggests rubbing a cotton ball on the inner succulent part of the watermelon. If the cotton ball turns red, then the watermelon is adulterated. If there is no colour change, the watermelon is unadulterated and safe to consume. 

Factly previously debunked the same video when it went viral in May 2024, falsely claiming that a Muslim man was caught adulterating watermelons.

Factly previously debunked similar claims involving a video by “Social Message” created for awareness and entertainment purposes, which went viral as real incidents (here).

To sum up, the viral video does not show a real incident and has no communal angle. It is a scripted video shared on a Facebook page called Social Message on 29 April 2024.

This story was originally published by Factly, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline and excerpt, this story has not been edited by ABP LIVE staff.