Republic Poll, a fake Twitter account imitating the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV, is angering netizens with its controversial polls as Twitter users including journalists mistake it for the channel's official account.
The fake account (@RepublicPoll) uses a logo very similar to Republic TV's logo and does not mention in its bio whether it is related to Republic TV or if it is a fan account. Twitter's rules require that a fan account or parody account should indicate the same.
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Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire.in, in a now deleted tweet, had shared a screenshot of a poll by the fake account claiming it was a 'poll run by a "nationalistic" media house'.
This is hilarious. Despite the desperate phrasing of the question, this poll run by a "nationalist" media house has ended up condemning the innocent, "minority in JNU" ABVP. pic.twitter.com/gQGtzFEU26
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) January 7, 2020
After several Twitter users pointed out that the account was fake Varadarajan later clarified that it was a parody account.
So I am told @republicpoll is a parody account. Which kinda makes sense since Republic TV is a parody news channel!
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) January 7, 2020
"Nudge" In polling via carefully placed words like 'goons' and 'minority in JNU' doesn't seem to work. pic.twitter.com/Vfa2dfxVST
— Andy Mukherjee (@andymukherjee70) January 6, 2020
Click here to view an archive.
We compared the official logo of Republic TV with the logo used by the fake Twitter account and found that they do not match. The fake account is not verified and created on April 1, 2019, whereas Republic TV official Twitter account was created in December 2016.
Republic TV (@Republic) has been conducting polls on its official Twitter handle.
#TukdeGangSpotted | Is there a pattern to the protests?
— Republic (@republic) January 6, 2020
The fake account has been regularly tweeting these polls, and while writing the article, it has 244 tweets, all of which are controversial polls. It currently has 2,671 Followers, whereas the official Republic TV Twitter account has 769 lakh followers and is not following it.
Loaded Polls By '@RepublicPoll'
The fake account has been tweeting polls on recent issues framing it with an ideologically right wing slant. Click here to view an archive.
#ShutDownJNU #LeftAttacksJNU#LeftKillingJNU
— Republic Poll (@RepublicPoll) January 6, 2020
Was this #JNUattack a pre planned attack by Left goons ??
Click here to view an archive.
#SwaraBhaskar has no any valid document.
— Republic Poll (@RepublicPoll) January 5, 2020
Then the Question that arises is....
How this lately Anarkali travel all around the World without Passport ???
Click here to view an archive.
Several Twitter users have taken on the account for its polls. The fake account has also deleted polls that are not favorable to it.
Despite your best attempts at trying to sway the votes by calling JNU students goons and ABVP a minority, people's votes show who the culprit is and who the chutiya is. Ghar jao kutton. pic.twitter.com/8Of3ejMt3p
— Rutuja/ऋतुजा🇮🇳 (@HavaldarShinde) January 6, 2020
When the Right repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot 🤭 @RepublicPoll @republic @RSSorg @BJP4India @AIADMKOfficial @narendramodi @AmitShah @DelhiPolice #JNUattack #BanABVP_TERRORIST #ResignAmitShah pic.twitter.com/7vJ7DS7keN
— Radhika Ganesh (@radhikaganesh) January 6, 2020
@RepublicPoll 😁😀😀why deleted the poll? ? @HRDMinistry @RichaChadha pic.twitter.com/GsLWGflaxm
— Prateek (@Prateekind) January 7, 2020