Fake news has become a growing problem in the online community, where anything and everything can be fabricated and presented in a believable way. Yellow journalism is hurting the credibility of real news based on facts, figures, and research. Another component of social media that is being abused is the ‘viral news’ that instantly gains attention; information with a shocking factor to it – which could be entirely false and baseless, yet believable.
The Syrian refugee who sells shawarmas in Islamabad gained quick fame through social news channels and unfortunately became the latest target of fake news. Online reports started circulating that he has met an accident and the police are suspecting jealous competitors to be behind the hit and run incident.
Via Urdu News
Considering the fact that by now this Syrian vendor was quite popular, the news of competitors harming him took over the internet by storm and everyone expressed their disappointment. However, it didn’t take long for people to reach out to him and discover the news was entirely fake; it was his two helpers that met a minor accident.
To put everyone’s worries to rest, here’s the man himself explaining the minor incident.
Dear Members! The Syrian Shawarma Guy is ok and live with us …What happened is that 2 of his helpers had an accident and it was very light, everything is fine .. #Islamabad #SyrianShawarma #SyrianGuysسوشل میڈیا پر اسلام آباد میں شوارما فروخت کرنے والے شامی شہری محمد عدنان کے بارے میں افواہیں گردش کر رہی ہیں کہ وہ حادثے میں زخمی ہو گئے ہیں، لیکن اس ویڈیو میں وہ بتا رہے کہ وہ بالکل ٹھیک ہیں۔Follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Islaamabad
Gepostet von Islamabad The Beautiful am Donnerstag, 10. Oktober 2019
A local journalist by the name Shiraz Hassan also took it to Twitter to declare this as fake news. Clearly, this is a serious matter that needs to be looked into. Fake news has become the latest tool for the wicked or for the attention seekers. Regardless of the intention behind spreading entirely fabricated information, the damage caused is of a large scale, as it brainwashes a large majority that consumes it.
However, the increasing frequency of false information circulating the web, it is becoming harder to believe the ones that bear authenticity and truth. In the case of this particular news hailing from Islamabad, the owner and chef behind the Syrian shawarmas delightfully shared the news that his workers will join him the next day running the shawarma stall with him.
His business has surely gone up after his social media fame.
Social Media is very powerfull..
Rush in F 10. All these people are in line to buy Shawrma from that Syrian guy.#Shawarma #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/QHv4mnUUdD
— ??Falak_Sher?? (@Swift_Retort) October 9, 2019
We hope they continue to serve their authentic delicious shawarmas and Pakistanis continue to debunk such fake news. With the passage of time, the web and social platforms are becoming increasingly saturated but hopefully, the authentic sources continue to excel in their jobs of providing genuine news to the masses.
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