A CCTV footage showing a young boy hitting his mother with a bat for not letting him play on a mobile phone is scripted and not an actual incident.
In the viral video, a young boy is seen engrossed in his mobile phone when a woman scolds him, takes the phone away, and makes him study. Moments later, he grabs a bat and hits her on the head from behind, before returning to his phone.
Republic Bharat misreported the viral video, citing it as a case of ‘nomophobia’ and falsely claimed the incident occurred after the mother scolded her son and confiscated his phone.
Several other Indian media outlets including India.com, Vijayavani, News18 Marathi, NTV Telugu also published the same video misreporting that it is an actual incident.
The article was posted on X by Republic with a caption in Hindi that translates to, "When mother took mobile from son, he attacked her with a bat and tore her head; Viral Video"
Click here to view the X post, and here an archive of the article published by Republic Bharat.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is not a real incident but a staged act.
BOOM has previously fact-checked similar videos edited to look like footage from a CCTV camera, but are in reality scripted videos posted by Facebook pages in a bid to gain views and shares.
Facebook page 'Ideas Factory' history with scripted videos
BOOM has previously fact-checked scripted videos posted by Ideas Factory that have gone viral with false claims.
We found the video was made and posted by a Facebook page, ‘Ideas Factory’ with a disclaimer stating it was scripted. The page has since deleted their original post.
Click here to view an archive.
Same set, different scripted videos
The Facebook page has been routinely posting scripted videos on a similar theme of mobile phone addiction. In a video posted on October 1, 2024, family members can be seen dining together at the table, eyes glued to their gadgets while ignoring feeding a child.
We spotted the same room and furniture including the framed photo, showcase and TV unit in this video as in the viral one. The October 1 video carried a disclaimer, calling it a "scripted drama".
This establishes that it is the same spot where these scripted videos are shot with different scenarios and actors.
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