A screenshot purporting to show a Hindustan Times article claiming Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy advocated for restricting interaction between young boys and girls; is doctored and fake and was not published by the news outlet.
BOOM found the screenshot to be doctored. Abhimanyu Kulkarni, Associate Editor of Hindustan Times, also confirmed that the publication did not run any such article.
The screenshot, titled 'Narayana Murthy advocates limited interaction between young girls and boys for success' claims that Murthy emphasised, "GenZ is shooting itself in its foot by getting into relationships, situationships, dating and other drama. They must instead focus on hustling and building the nation."
Murthy has been facing flak online for his remarks about advocating a 70 hour work week for young people in India. The doctored screenshot is viral in this context.
A Facebook page shared the fake screenshot with a sarcastic caption, "What an amazing piece of advice. Hope girls and boys don't talk to one another till the age of 60".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search related to the viral screenshot but found no such article published by the Hindustan Times or any other credible news outlet.
Instead, we found a clarification tweet from HT stating, "A screenshot of a purported HT story claiming “Narayana Murthy advocates limited interaction between young girls and boys for success” is circulating online. We confirm that the screenshot is photoshopped and the story is fake."
The clarification also mentioned that the publication's legal team is addressing the issue and will take appropriate legal action against those responsible for creating and spreading the misinformation.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
We also reached out to Abhimanyu Kulkarni, Associate Editor of Hindustan Times, who confirmed that the screenshot is fake and that no such article was ever published by the publication.
Kulkarni told BOOM, "No, this was not published by Hindustan Times. In the original HT design, the time stamp appears just after the byline."
We also reviewed an original news article published by the news outlet and compared it with the viral screenshot.
The original HT article includes a timestamp whereas the viral screenshot does not.
