#FactCheck - AI-Generated Video of Monkey Falsely Linked to Hanuman Devotion

Executive Summary:

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A video circulating on social media shows a group of people tearing Congress posters and raising controversial slogans. The clip is being shared with the claim that the individuals seen in the video are workers of the Congress party who were protesting against Rahul Gandhi and raising slogans against him. However, research by the CyberPeace found the viral claim to be misleading. Our research  revealed that the video dates back to February 21, 2026. On that day, members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) staged a protest outside a Congress office. During the demonstration, they raised slogans and tore Congress posters. The same video is now being circulated with a false narrative.

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Claim

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On February 24, 2026, a Facebook user shared the viral video with the caption:“Rebellion against Rahul Gandhi in Congress’ own stronghold! Party workers themselves tore posters and raised slogans — ‘Rahul Gandhi is a thief… a thief!’ This video exposes the internal truth of Congress. Congress itself is Muslim League.”

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/708311533904849/posts/1946080330127957 
• https://archive.ph/UbTxK 

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Fact Check

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To verify the claim, we extracted key frames from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens. During the search, we found the same video uploaded on YouTube on February 21, 2026.

According to the description accompanying the video, BJP workers had staged a protest outside a Congress building. The report mentioned vandalism and stone-pelting during the protest, resulting in injuries to several individuals

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-13mSvJ2c

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Using this lead, we conducted a keyword search on Google and found a report published on February 21, 2026, by the Hindi news website Raj Express. The visuals in the report closely matched those seen in the viral clip.

• https://www.rajexpress.com/en/mp-cgnews/bhopal-20260221102642 

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According to the report, the protest in Bhopal was organized by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in response to a T-shirt protest staged by the Youth Congress during an AI Summit held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The situation escalated when protesters marched toward the state Congress office in Shivaji Nagar. Police attempted to disperse the crowd using water cannons, but some protesters reportedly entered the Congress office premises, leading to tension.

Further, we found the same viral video on the official Facebook page of Indian National Congress - Madhya Pradesh, where it was posted on February 26, 2026. In the post, the Congress unit alleged that BJYM workers and BJP-affiliated individuals had entered the Congress office, vandalized property, and created chaos in the presence of police officials.

• https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1456900172501381 

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Conclusion

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Our research  found that the viral claim is misleading. The video is from February 21, 2026, when BJYM workers protested outside a Congress office and engaged in vandalism. The footage is now being falsely shared as evidence of an internal rebellion by Congress workers against Rahul Gandhi.

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On 22nd October 2024, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister for Communications, launched the (DoT) Department of Telecoms’ International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System. This was introduced in light of efforts toward preventing international fraudulent calls that enable cyber crimes. A recent report as per PIB claims for the system to have been effective and played a role in a 90% reduction in the number of spoofed international calls, its instances falling from 1.35 Crore to 6 Lakhs within two months of the launch of the system.

International spoof calls are calls that masquerade as numbers originating from within the country when displayed on the target's mobile screen. This is done by manipulating the calling line identity or the CLI, commonly known as the phone number. Previous cases reported mention that such spoof calls have been used for conducting financial scams, impersonating government officials to carry out digital arrests, and inducing panic. Instances of threats of disconnecting numbers by TRAI officials, and narcotics officials on finding drugs or even contraband through couriers are also rampant. 

International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System 

As was addressed in the Budget in 2024, the system was previously called the Centralised International Out Roamer (CIOR), and the DoT was allocated Rs.38.76 crore for the same. The Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) under the DoT is another project that aims to investigate and research fraudulent use of telecom resources, including messages, scams, and spam - the budget for which has been increased from 50 to 85 crores.

The International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System was implemented in two phases, the first one was at the level of the telephone companies (telcos). Telcos can verify their subscribers and Indian SIMs based on the Indian Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) international long-distance (ILD) network. When a user with an Indian number travels abroad, the roaming feature gets activated, and all calls hit the ILD network of the TSP. This allows the TSP to verify whether the numbers starting with +91 are genuinely making calls from abroad or from India. However, a TSP can only verify numbers that are issued with their TSP ILD network and not those of other TSPs. This issue was addressed in the second phase, as the DIU of DoT and the TSPs built an integrated system so that a centralised database could be used to check for genuine subscribers. 

CyberPeace Outlook

A press release on 23rd December 2024 encouraged the TSPs to label incoming International calls as International calls on the mobile screen of the receiver. Some of them have already started adding labels and are sending awareness messages informing their subscribers of tips on staying safe from scams. Apart from these, there are also applications available online that help in identifying callers and their location, however, these are at the behest of the users' efforts and have moderate trust value. At the level of the public, the practice of blocking unknown international numbers and not calling back, along with awareness regarding country codes is encouraged. Coordinated and updated efforts on the part of the Government and the TSPs are much appreciated in today's time as scammers continue to find new ways to commit cyber crimes using telecommunication resources.

References

1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/jyotiraditya-scindia-launches-dot-system-to-block-spam-international-calls-101729615441509.html
2. https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/centre-launches-system-to-block-international-spoofed-calls-curb-fraud-124102300449_1.html
3. https://www.opindia.com/2024/12/number-of-spoofed-international-calls-used-in-cyber-crimes-goes-down-by-90-in-2-months/
4. https://www.cnbctv18.com/technology/telecom/telecom-department-anti-spoofed-international-calls-19529459.htm
5. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2067113
6. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2087644
7. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/display-international-call-for-calls-from-abroad-to-curb-scams-dot-to-telecos-101735050551449.html 

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Introduction

The .com boom led to a massive surge in the expansion of digitised and automated operations in all industries and organisations, which in turn beagle a wholesome transition to the digital age for all netizens, organisations and industries. All the big techs in today’s time were startups or not even in existence back when this boom began, but just in 3-4 decades, we see that a massive faction of the global population is dependent directly or indirectly on big techs for some or the other services. As the world of tech expands, so does the big tech, and hence, in the previous decades, we have seen some acquisitions by big tech companies. The biggest acquisition by tech was last seen in 2023 when the social media giant Facebook (Now META) acquired the famous messaging platform Whatsapp for $13 Billion, but now, almost after a decade, the world is ready to witness the biggest acquisition as Adobe confirms its plans to acquire Figma the leading web-first collaborative design platform.

Adobe - Figma Acquisition  

The illustrator developer Adobe has been the pioneer in developing designing tools since 1982. The founder of the company made a switch from the paper company Xerox, and hence, the operations and products of the company have been oriented towards paper and design. But as the company is already a pioneer in developing designing and editing tools, the impact of AI cannot be underestimated. Hence, this acquisition comes at a critical juncture in impacting the AI-driven product market.  

Adobe wants to use digital experiences to transform the world. Adobe provides the tools and platforms that power the digital economy today, and over the course of its existence, its innovations have positively impacted billions of people worldwide. Adobe continues to invent and modify categories, having revolutionised photography and creative expression with Photoshop, pioneered electronic documents with PDF, and created the digital marketing category with Adobe Experience Cloud.

The goals of Figma are to facilitate visual teamwork and provide accessibility to design for all. The company, which was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, was a pioneer in online product design. Thanks to multi-player workflows, advanced design systems, and a large, expandable developer environment, it is now enabling collaboration for anybody designing interactive mobile and online applications. Millions of fresh designers and developers, as well as a devoted student base, have been drawn to Figma.

By working together, Adobe and Figma will transform how people create and work, spur innovation on the web, improve product design, and uplift communities of creators, designers, and developers throughout the world. The combined business will have the capacity to create major value for clients, investors, and the industry, in addition to a sizable and rapidly expanding market potential.

Key Features of Acquisition

The most expensive acquisition this century has caught the attention of a lot of companies and regulatory authorities across the world. The key features of the deal are as follows: 

• Reimagining the Future of Creativity and Productivity: The designing giant Adobe and Figma coming together will unlock new potential for creativity and productivity as both of the companies create tools which are widely used; hence, they understand the customer’s requirements and expectations, thus making a path for creativity and productivity in term of new services and applications.    
• Accelerating Creativity on the Web: Adobe's Creative Cloud technologies will be delivered online more quickly thanks to Figma's web-based, multi-player features, which will increase productivity and accessibility to the creative process for more people. The current difficulty facing creators is producing an ever-increasing amount of material while working closely with an ever-increasing number of stakeholders. With its widespread use, the web is now a tool that facilitates collaborative creation in teams.
• Advancing Product Design: All parties involved in the product design process, including designers, product managers, and developers, will gain from the integration of Adobe's robust imaging, photography, illustration, video, 3D, and font technologies into the Figma platform. Because digital applications are integral to both our personal and professional lives, the product design sector is experiencing rapid expansion. 
• Inspiring and empowering the designer and developer community: The company's ongoing innovation has been fueled by the dynamic creative community at Adobe. With its vast and expanding ecosystem, Figma boasts a fervent community that creates and shares everything from templates to plug-ins to lessons. By uniting the communities of Figma and Adobe, designers and developers will be able to harness the potential of collaborative design in the future. By 2025, Figma's addressable market will reach a total of $16.5 billion. With best-in-class net dollar retention of more than 150 percent, the company is predicted to add around $200 million in net new ARR this year, topping $400 million in total ARR by the end of 2022. Figma has established a productive, rapidly expanding company with operating cash flows that are positive and gross margins of over 90%.

Conclusion

The acquisition of the decade is going to be under heavy scrutiny and checks under various laws in different countries and is expected to be given the green light soon, this merger and acquisition case study will act as a precedent for such high-value acquisitions. Nearly 10 years ago, we saw the last biggest acquisition, where Meta acquired WhatsApp for $13 Bn. As the world of tech moves forward, we will be witnessing more of such M&As in the future, but in such moments, we should be cautious about how our data is handled and transferred by the other company, always make sure you keep a check on your digital rights and responsibilities, because ultimately we are the consumers of the cyberspace.

References

• https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2022/Adobe-to-Acquire-Figma/default.aspx
• https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/26/regulator_delays_adobes_20bn_buy/
• https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/adobes-deal-acquire-figma-under-threat-eu-regulators-ft-2023-06-20/'

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